Imperial Wings
by Atlantic Jewel
Summary: A girl is given a second chance at life, in exchange for ending the war of Transformers. It's about as easy as it sounds. And, whilst sorting out her own life, she discovers two younglings without mothers, and the reason why their families fight.
1. Primus' Request – Transformers Are Real!

TRANSFORMERS

Imperial Wings

_A girl is given a second chance at life, in exchange for ending the war of Transformers. It's about as easy as it sounds. And, whilst sorting out her own life, she discovers two younglings without mothers, and the reason why their families fight._

CHAPTER ONE

Primus' Request – Transformers Are Real!

O~O~O~O~O

_Where in God's name am I?_

**Not God, little one.**

_Okay, who then? Not Primus, surely…_

**Precisely.**

She was silent for a moment, before daring to ask: _Okay then, Primus…where am I?_

There was no answer, and the girl began to feel frustrated. She had her eyes closed, but she didn't feel like opening them. She was tired, for one thing, and feeling mentally drained all of a sudden. She did get the feeling that she was floating in space, however, and then a thought struck her: _I'm dead!_

**No, you're not, my sparkling.** Primus' voice was gentle and sincere. **You are, in fact, very much alive.**

_B-but…_ The girl stammered. _M-my car…I crashed…into a power-pole, and then…_ The memories of the horrifying accident made her heart hammer, and brought tears to her unopened eyes.

She was vaguely aware of something large wrapping around her – a giant hand that was more like a big, warm blanket. She dared herself to open her eyes, and saw, through her tears, that she was being held by a large white and gold robot, the largest thing she had ever seen in her life. Looking into his face, she saw that his optics were a deep blue colour, and seemed endless. This was Primus, she realised, unable to move or even speak. This is the Transformers god…

**That is correct, Emma.**

_He knows my name!_

**I know everything about you, little one,** Primus intoned calmly. **For I have watched over the universe and beyond since before time began.**

_So then…Transformers are real?_ Emma wanted to know.

Primus nodded. **Yes.**

_Which ones?_

**I believe the story from your world calls them 'The Transformers'.**

_Generation One…_ Emma breathed slowly, trying to wrap her head around this. Aside from her and Primus, there was nothing but an endless stretch of whiteness. Was this what Primus had meant by 'beyond the universe'? Scary… _So…how come _I'm_ here, though? I should be, like, dead…_ The memory of the car crash was still fresh in her memory, and the thought of what her family and friends would say worried her. She'd argued with her parents a lot…but now she wouldn't get any more chances to make up with them…

**I brought you here, little one,** Primus informed her. **In order for you to carry out your mission. One that you were intended to fulfil long ago.**

_What do you mean? What mission?_

**My children – the Transformers – have been at war for centuries. It was ravaged their kind – and countless planets. This was a war that was never meant to get so out of control.**

_But it did._ Emma stated. _How come you can't just fix it? You know, make Megatron not-evil anymore and stop the fighting? You're god, you can fix things._

Primus laughed gently. **I wish it were that simple, Emma but then again, if it was, we wouldn't be here. I would be content to just observe, and you would be working a nine-to-five job five days a week.**

_And yet here we are._

**Exactly. I am the god who created Transformers, however there are rules that bind even me. I cannot just go forth to where the Autobots and Decepticons are and, as you say, 'fix things'. If I could, I would have done it by now.**

Emma guessed what he was hinting at. She sighed. _So…you saved my life and brought me here, in exchange for me doing your job for you?_ She bit her lip suddenly. Why did she just speak like that to a god?

Luckily, Primus was amused by this, and merely smiled down at her as he said: **It has **_**always**_** been your mission to end this war, Emma. It has been ever since the fighting reached a point where neither side would ever **_**dream**_** of giving in. It is this point that is the key to solving everything.**

_Which point would this be?_

**I'm afraid I cannot tell you.**

_Of course not._

**However, what I **_**can**_** do, is give you three things. The first is a guardian – something that will be your familiar, so that you will never find yourself alone. Wherever you go, she will find you.**

Emma blinked a few times, and then felt something long and serpentine slip around her neck. Something appeared in front of her face – a creature with goldish platinum-coloured eyes like her own. It looked like a pale pink snake, but it had four wings just below its 'neck'. It appeared to be made entirely out of metal, so he guessed it was a robot. She tilted her head to one side, as did the snake. She raised her chin slightly, and the snake kept at eye-level with her. Emma blinked and the snake, having no eye-lids, merely flicked its red tongue lazily at her. She wondered if it had any fangs. It had a purple stone on its forehead.

Emma looked back up at Primus, who was watching her and the snake's interactions.

**This is a creature known as a Pythormer,** Primus told her, as the snake flew a few times around Emma's head before settling across her shoulders again. **It is a very rare creature nowadays, commonly associated with myself and other such entities. If any have doubts as to who you are, this one will clear it all up. Her name is Platinum.**

Emma was instantly reminded of one of her favourite songs and, as if on cue, a few bars from the piano version of the song played. It seemed to have come from the stone on the snake's forehead.

_So, what, she talks through the music?_ Emma wanted to know, and Primus nodded. _Bizaro-world…_

**Her other abilities will make themselves very clear in time,** the god told her. **As will your own.**

_My own?_ Emma wondered, before falling into stunned silence because the god had just opened his chest-plate to reveal his spark. It was beating a bright and brilliant blue, the exact same colour as his optics, and radiating with such power that Emma was stunned into submission.

**I will grant you the power of my spark, young one. **As Primus spoke, particles of data that reminded Emma of something from Digimon Frontier formed loops, and began to transfer the power of the All-Spark from Primus to Emma. **As you are my ambassador, this is a great power for you to wield.**

_What? But…wait, what if I don't want to?_

**You don't have a choice.**

_Oh._

**However, you do have many other choices to make,** Primus informed her, as her eyes closed, the transfer of this powerful energy into her small human body making her feel small. **You may make the wrong choices, but they are yours and yours alone to make.**

_You mean like…Autobot or Decepticon? Fight or flight? To be or not to be?_ Emma was glad she was still able to show her sense of humour, especially since the power transfer was having a strange effect on her body.

Primus chuckled. **These choices will effect more than just you – choose wisely. The decision you make will effect everyone.**

_So, in other words, screw up and everyone dies? No pressure, really. Anything else I should know?_

**Yes.** Primus said, as the data transfer finished, and Emma opened her eyes to look at him. A blue disc sat on her chest, near her collar bone in the centre. It shone with the same colour as the All-Spark, because it _was_ effectively a spark. **My last thing I have for you before we must part ways is some advice. You now have both a heart and a spark. This means that others may view you as one of us. Do not be afraid but be wary. For, in time, you will understand what it means to be an un-bonded fem in a world dominated by mechs…**

Emma felt a surge of panic, not fully understanding Primus' words as she felt her body seize up and begin to float away.

"Wait!" She called out; ceasing to speak in her mind and hearing, for the first time, what the power of Primus' spark had done to her voice. It sounded more like she was singing. "Primus, don't go, I have more questions!" Platinum curled around Emma's neck.

**I must go, my young one,** Primus intoned. **But, I will **_**always**_** be a part of you, you will be fine.**

"But…I have more questions!" He was getting further away, and she didn't want to leave yet. "I need to know what to do!"

**You will know what to do when you look into your spark.** Primus said. **And, my dearest one, beware of the destroyer…he does not appear as you know him.**

An image of a black and silver robot with burning red eyes flashed through Emma's mind, just as she faded away into the white mass.

"Primus!" She cried in a choked up voice.

**Do not be afraid…Emma…**


	2. Seekers Attack – Sunny Gets Serious!

TRANSFORMERS

Imperial Wings

_A girl is given a second chance at life, in exchange for ending the war of Transformers. It's about as easy as it sounds. And, whilst sorting out her own life, she discovers two younglings without mothers, and the reason why their families fight._

CHAPTER TWO

Seekers Attack – Sunstreaker Gets Serious!

O~O~O~O~O

_Okay, _now_ where am I?_ Emma opened her eyes slowly, to find herself lying face-down in the middle of a desert. How did she know it was a desert? Because, no matter which direction she looked in, all she could see was sand. Looking up, she saw that there were no clouds in the sky. Just the hot, blazing sun.

Glancing down at herself, Emma realised that she was wearing different clothes now. She'd started out the day in a black skirt and turtleneck. Now, however, she wore a white sundress that came to just above her knees, and was low-cut enough to show off the blue disc on her chest. She was curious about that disc, and so touched it carefully.

Emma was startled when it sent a jolt through her, and then a small energy wave a few feet around her.

"Yikes…" She realised, before looking down and noticing the pink snake lying on the sand. "Oh my gosh!" She cried, kneeling down beside the little robot. "Platinum? Speak to me, Platinum! Are you alright? !"

The little snake looked at her with golden eyes, and nodded her head once, before flying up and curling around the human's neck. Emma sighed with relief. "Okay then, I guess we'd better go…somewhere…"

Platinum cocked her head to once side, as if to say: Where?

"Pick a direction." Emma shrugged.

The snake raised her head, then jabbed it in one particular direction.

"That way?" Emma decided it couldn't hurt to listen to the snake for now. She didn't have any better options. "Okay, let's go then." She started walking, leaving footprints in the sand with her white sandals that reminded her of Sailor Neptune's shoes. At least Primus knew how to outfit a girl with style.

O~O~O~O~O

"What's the report, Jazz?" Optimus Prime hurried into the room, where Jazz stood in front of the monitor.

"Teletran-1's picking up some sort of energy vibes," Jazz informed him promptly.

"Is it the Decepticons?" Optimus wanted to know.

Jazz shook his head. "Negative. The reading's show it's a lot like the energy of a spark, but there's something different about it too."

"Different how?" Optimus asked, not taking his eyes off the energy readings. They seemed familiar to him, somehow.

Jazz hesitated, then said: "I'm not entirely sure…should we check into it?"

"Definitely," Optimus agreed, activating his com-link. "Hound's in that area, so I'll send him. It may be a Transformer, and Hound will be able to track him quickly before there are any problems."

"By _problems_ you mean the D-Cons, right?" Jazz guessed.

"Precisely." Optimus nodded, before speaking through his com-link to the tracker. Hound, I have a job for you to do…

O~O~O~O~O

She'd been walking for an hour.

"I live with my parents," Emma told Platinum, as she continued walking through the sandy wasteland. "But my sister and her partner are moving out to their own place at the end of the year. Mum and Dad want _me_ to move out, but I wasn't ready. I guess it's happened, though. I don't really get along with my parents. They want me to grow up and stop watching anime and playing video games. They want me to get a job (not that I haven't been trying) and a boyfriend." She sighed. "Sometimes I think that last one's the hardest of all. Guys just don't seem to _like_ me. I've never even been out on a _date_. And now I'm depressed…"

Platinum, who had been listening silently for Emma's entire rant, now tilted her head to one side, and then music began playing.

In my own time I'll take a chance…in my own time I'll find romance, in my own time…it'll be mine…

"Thanks," Emma said, patting the side of the snake's metal body. "I'm not sure that made me feel better, but I _do_ like that song." She liked this snake already, and could definitely get used to having her around. Now, if she could only figure out where she _was_. "Send me a sign!" She exclaimed, raising her arms to the sky. "_Anything_!"

She suddenly heard the roar of what sounded suspiciously like a jet-engine.

Her heart nearly stopped beating. "Except that."

O~O~O~O~O

Why on earth would Megatron even _send_ us out here? Starscream arced his jet-body slightly to the left, following the coordinates he'd been given. Up here, in the sky, he was the master of all he surveyed (or so he thought). He just wished he wasn't flying off on some wild-grease-chase for Megatron.

He didn't say, Thundercracker replied. He just said to bring back whatever it was we found.

How will we know what it is? Skywarp wanted to know.

Dunno. Thundrecracker mentally shrugged. I don't get it, either. I guess we'll know when we get there.

Both of you, look, Starscream said suddenly, sharply. I see something!

The other two Seekers looked.

It looks like a…human? Skywarp guessed.

Why would Megatron want us to bring him back a human? Starscream wondered, having absolutely no clue what was going through his leader's mind. To him, it just proved his theory – Megatron was insane.

Well, orders are orders. Thundercracker said, diplomatically.

In that instant, something clicked inside of Starscream, that little piece of him that loved doing this sort of thing. We're going in. He said.

The three jets angled down.

O~O~O~O~O

Hound was picking up on what he supposed was the source of the power force. It certainly _smelled_ that way to the tracker, who was driving in his vehicle mode over the sandy terrain. However, his scanners were also picking up three other entities closing in fast – and Hound knew from past experiences what that must mean. No doubt about it. Megatron had seen the energy reading too, and sent either the Seekers or the Cone Heads out to retrieve it. For the sake of whoever it was they were all after, he hoped it was neither of the above.

As Hound closed in on the power source, his sensors picked up on a second energy signature. This one was completely different from the first one – and that worried Hound slightly.

He increased his speed.

O~O~O~O~O

Emma was absolutely frozen to the spot as the three Seekers landed around her, their red optics glowing slightly in what she supposed was meant to be a threatening way.

It was very threatening to her.

Platinum was still coiled around her neck, but now the Pythormer arched her neck down and then raised her head, hissing softly.

The Decepticons didn't seem to notice the little snake, but instead exchanged glances.

Emma was shaking slightly. _Well girl, you wanted Transformers, you got em'!_ She felt like fainting. She didn't do the whole 'people' thing…well, in this case, it was robots, but same thing! She was the definition of a wall-flower, and hardly ever socialized!

"Okay, girlie," Thundercracker was the first to speak. His voice sent chills down Emma's spine – he was a Decepticon! "You're coming with us…"

Emma didn't say anything. It was like she had lost the ability to speak. Her mouth felt like it was filled with sand.

"What's the matter, human?" Starscream asked her. "Caticon got your tongue?"

_What the hell's a caticon?_ Emma wondered.

Skywarp was looking at her, and suddenly he grinned.  
><em>Why is he smiling at me like that?<em> Emma wondered, just as Skywarp reached down with amazing speed, and picked her up. She let out a yell, but couldn't struggle because she felt frozen.

Skywarp brought her up to eye-level, and looked at her.

"Skywarp, what are you thinking?" Thundercracker wanted to know.

"She's a cutie." Skywarp said bluntly, and Emma felt a flush rise up in her face.

Thundercracker blinked. "Uh, she's a _human_, Skywarp." He shook his head. Sometimes Skywarp never ceased to amaze him.

"She's still cute." Skywarp said stubbornly.

Thundercracker sighed. "She's, like, half your size." He pointed out.

"So?" Skywarp wasn't backing down.

All this time, Emma had been listening, but now she was starting to find her voice. Platinum was coiled around her neck, and hissed softly again. She didn't like the Decepticons, it seemed.

"Hey," Emma said softly and, when they didn't seem to hear her, she spoke louder. "Hey!" Her voice rang.

The three Seekers looked at her.

"I have a _name_ you know, so stop calling me 'she' and 'girlie' and 'human'!" Emma said the words before she thought, and wondered why she kept speaking like this to giant robots. "And put me down, Skywarp, this isn't fair!"

Skywarp's red optics gleamed. "It doesn't have to be fair," He told her, squeezing her a little bit tighter. She gasped. "We have orders to bring you back to Megatron, and that's just what we plan to do!"

"What?" Emma managed to free her arms, but that was about all she could do. "No! I don't wanna go!"

Starscream smirked. "You haven't got a choice, girl." He told her.

"My name isn't 'girl', it's Emma!" She exclaimed. "And I _really_ don't wanna go, Megatron's a psychopath! He's _insane_!"

The three Seekers stared at her for a second, before they laughed, Starscream loudest of all. Maybe this human wasn't so bad – she certainly seemed to hate Megatron, a view Starscream could understand all too well. Another view Starscream saw, but wasn't sure if he understood, was Skywarp's. This girl _was_ pretty cute – for a human, anyway. And, because she was a human, she wasn't going to be able to do much to get away.

He just wished he knew why Megatron had asked them to bring her back. Well, only one way to find out.

Starscream looked at Thundercracker. They nodded to each other, and prepared to return to the sky.

Emma gulped. Now what? She _really_ didn't want to do, but…

Apparently, neither did Platinum, because she suddenly decided to take matters into her own…wings.

She spread all four of them at once and uncoiled herself from around Emma's neck. She flew straight up into Skywarp's face, and the startled Decepticon jumped back, letting go of Emma in the process. She fell to the ground, landing hard on her right side but, luckily, the sand was soft enough to cushion her fall.

"Aurgh!" Skywarp shouted, as the tiny robot snake hissed somewhat ferociously at him.

Starscream and Thundercracker were just as shocked as Skywarp was. "Is that a _Pythormer_? !" Starscream wanted to know, as all three pairs of red optics were glued to the tiny pink thing.

Emma looked up in shock at Platinum. Gone was the cute little snake the colour of spun sugar that had coiled harmlessly around her neck like a scarf. Now, Platinum looked about as sweet as a cobra getting ready to strike, and Skywarp was backing away from her.

"Careful, Skywarp!" Thundercracker warned him, also backing away from the snake's range. "Don't get bitten!"

_Huh? So Platinum _can_ bite. And, the Decepticons are afraid of it, ah but why?_ Emma stared up in shock at her not-so-harmless little familiar, and felt a strange rush of connection to the robot snake. It may _look_ harmless but, clearly, it had bite.

Starscream was the only one that hadn't backed off by that stage. If anything, he had moved _closer_.

"Easy, Starscream," Thundercracker told him. "If you get bitten, we ain't scrapin' your melted metal off the sand!"

_Her poison melts metal? !_ Emma was startled. _Whoa…_

Starscream didn't answer, and instead was looking at Emma. Emma sensed this and glanced away from Platinum, looking at Starscream half in question and half in fear.

Starscream suddenly switched his own gaze to Platinum and, in a swift and decisive movement, fired an energy blast at her.

"NO! ! !" Emma screamed, as the energy blast hit Platinum, causing the snake the writhe in agony in mid-air, before falling to the sand. She would have hit it, had Emma not run underneath her and caught her. "Platinum!" Emma cried, her voice choked with tears. The little snake's body was covered in cuts, and some even emitted sparks.

"Starscream, you attacked a Pythormer!" Thundercracker was shocked.

"So what? I didn't kill it – yet!" The second-in-command said sharply, before reaching down to grab Emma, who stared back up at him in horror.

Tears were pooling in her hazel eyes, and there was sand in her short dark brown hair and on her dress.

She looked at Starscream pleadingly and, for some odd reason, the Seeker hesitated.

Which was good, because it gave Hound enough time to transform and crash-tackle Starscream, slamming into the Decepticon and knocking him away from Emma, who was now frozen to the ground again. The appearance of the Autobot had startled her, but she was very glad to see him.

Not so glad that it was three against one, and now Platinum was hurt. Emma looked down at the snake in her arms, and Platinum looked back up at her.

"Hound! Why do you always get in the way? !" Starscream shouted.

"It's what I do!" He yelled back.

Emma thought that he was very brave, but she was also scared.

_What should I do now, Primus?_ She thought. _What should I do?_ She hugged Platinum closer to her chest, feeling the warmth of the little robot's spark against her own. A single tear dripped down her face and landed on the jewel on the snake's forehead. _What?_

As soon as the teardrop hit the jewel, a bell-like tone resounded, followed by a much larger energy wave than had been before. It was seen and felt by Hound and the three Seekers he was fighting at once. It reached the Autobots who were at their base known as the Ark, and those that weren't there got it soon afterwards. Even the Decepticons got it back at _their_ base.

It didn't appear to do any damage, and all were left staring at their hands, trying to figure out what had happened.

Emma sniffled, still holding the injured Pythormer close to her chest, but now she looked up, and locked gazes with the Autobot Hound.

"Help us…" She whispered.

Hound moved quickly. He lunged forwards, grabbing the small human gently but firmly in one hand. In less than a second, he had transformed, and Emma found herself sitting in the driver's seat, the seatbelt wrapped firmly around her as Hound drove away over the sand dunes.

"After them!" She heard Starscream say. She looked in the wing-mirror just in time to see the three Seekers transform into jets, and give chase. Her blood ran cold.

"They're coming after us, Hound!" She exclaimed, looking at the steering wheel which was moving by itself. A small voice in the back of her mind was cheering, however. She was riding with an Autobot! This was _actually_ happening!

"On it!" Hound replied, and the white gun at the back of his jeep alt-mode swung around, and fired at the Decepticons. They dodged, but one of them (Emma didn't see which one) got his wing grazed, and she hoped that it was Starscream. It would serve him right for injuring Platinum! She looked at the snake in her arms, and prayed she'd be alright.

Suddenly, movement from up ahead caused her to look up at the now less sandy terrain, and she saw two vehicles headed towards them.

"I do hope they're Autobots!" Emma exclaimed. Please_ let it be Autobots!_

O~O~O~O~O

Hound hadn't known _what_ to think when he'd arrived on the scene. What could the Decepticon Seekers _possibly_ want with this human girl? Then it hit him – she was the one responsible for the energy signature! She and her little pink robot were in desperate need of being rescued!

After the second power influx, Hound had realised that the little pink robot was a Pythormer, although what one was doing with a human was beyond him. All he knew, was that when the girl looked at him with tear-filled gold eyes, and begged for his help, he knew he had to get them both back to Ratchet.

As he sped through the desert, he tightened the seatbelt around the small girl, and noticed that he was shaking slightly. He didn't blame her in the slightest for being scared, and no doubt worried about the Pythormer. The Decepticons were known for being relentless and persistent, and Hound had a feeling he might not be able to shake all three of them off his tail but, luckily, just as he'd drawn this conclusion, help arrived.

"I do hope they're Autobots!" He heard the girl exclaim.

They were. "It's Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe!" Hound clarified and heard the girl gasp.

The two Lamborghinis drove into view, both of them about to get a lot less shiny.

The three Seekers transformed, as did Sunstreaker and Sideswipe.

Hound was about to continue on, but Starscream wouldn't allow it. The Seeker's movements forced the tracker to transform, holding the girl and her snake in his hand as he faced the Decepticon.

"Give her to me, Autobot, and I'll spare your life!" Starscream told Hound.

"Not gonna happen, Decepticon!" Hound said. "What would you want with a human, anyway?"

Starscream laughed; a mocking sound. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Hound!" Hound looked down, startled, at the human girl in his hand. She was looking up at him, with something shining in her eyes and her voice. "Hound, we _have_ to get out of here!" He felt her heart pounding in her chest. "Platinum needs a medic!" She glared at Starscream suddenly. "_He_ hurt her!" Her voice shook, but Hound got the message. She was angry at Starscream for hurting her Pythormer.

"Enough talking!" Starscream said suddenly, and fired his plasma cannon at Hound.

Hound dodged out of the way, and landed near Sideswipe, who had succeeded in injuring Thundercracker enough to be able to take the girl from Hound, so that he could deal with Starscream.

"Hi." Sideswipe said to the girl, who was now perched on his left shoulder. She was small, though he could tell she was probably in her early twenties. She had short dark brown hair that was covered with sand, like her white dress. A small pink robot snake – a Pythormer – was curled up in her arms, against an intense-blue disc on her chest (which, Sideswipe noted, was a fairly nice proportioned chest). She looked at him, her eyes were hazel. "I'm Sideswipe."

"I'm Emma," She said shyly, and glanced down at the Pythormer. "This is Platinum." She blinked, and then her face took on a determined look. "We have to get her to a medic!"

"We will, Ratchet will help her." Sideswipe assured her.

"Good." Emma replied.

Just then, Skywarp fired at them, and Sunstreaker jumped in the way, tarnishing his once pristine paint-job and damaging his arm.

Everyone froze. Emma gasped, and covered her mouth with her hand. "That Decepticon knows not what he's done." She whispered.

"Frag." Starscream muttered, his red optics flashing. _Skywarp's in for it now._

Everyone knew how insane Sunstreaker was about these things.

Sideswipe was staring at his brother, and then he nodded. He turned and began to run, followed by Hound. Both of them transformed, and Emma somehow found herself sitting in the driver's seat of Hound's alt mode again.

When they were only about one hundred metres away, there was a massive explosion.

O~O~O~O~O

Both Hound and Sideswipe swerved, and they and Emma watched as three shapes flew away from the explosion site.

Then, Sunstreaker was driving towards them.

"You over-did it, brother." Sideswipe informed him when his brother reached them.

"He deserved it." Sunstreaker replied angrily. Emma noticed that his yellow paint job was now dirtied, which she was sure didn't impress him.

"Yes, it was _his_ fault." Sideswipe said pointedly, and Emma realised that the cause of this was because Sunstreaker had been protecting them.

She opened her mouth to say something, but just then Hound said: "We need to get back to the base."

"Right." The twins agreed, and Emma nodded.

_Hold on Platinum._ She thought, and hoped that Ratchet was a bloody good medic.

O~O~O~O~O

Not a _word_ to anyone about this, understood? ! Starscream was beyond furious.

But…shouldn't we tell Megatron about the girl? Skywarp could hardly speak. Sparks were crackling from his wings, and he sensed a massive repair job coming on.

NO! Starscream said, a little too quickly. The other two Seekers didn't say anything. We're not telling Megatron _anything_, and remember to keep your thoughts blocked from Soundwave! _Understood_? Skywarp? Thundercracker?

Crystal.

Transparently.

Good. Starscream had a lot of thinking to do about what had just transpired…


	3. The Autobots Are Surprised?

TRANSFORMERS

Imperial Wings

_A girl is given a second chance at life, in exchange for ending the war of Transformers. It's about as easy as it sounds. And, whilst sorting out her own life, she discovers two younglings without mothers, and the reason why their families fight._

CHAPTER THREE

The Autobots Are Surprised?

O~O~O~O~O

_Flashback:_

"_What happened to doing the kitchen, Emma?" Her older sister Sarah had her hands on her hips._

"_Sorry, I meant to do it, but I wanted to wait until the end of Master Chef," Emma said. "It's the finale."_

"_I don't care." Sarah said. "You didn't cook tea, and you've done _nothing_. The house is a pigsty!"_

_Emma got defensive. "Hey, I drove that shovel down to you today because you two got bogged whilst messing around with someone else's car! And I did the kitchen last night! You couldn't even be bothered staying home with me on Friday!" Her heart was pounding in her chest the way it always did when she fought with her sister. Because she knew she'd lose. Her sister knew exactly what to say to upset her._

"_Don't be so difficult!" Sarah said. "It's no wonder Mum wants to kick you out! Do you argue with her like this?"_

_Emma felt a lump forming in her throat. Her parents happened to be away on a holiday, and she'd just spent a night alone. She _hated_ that, but it seemed like she was always alone. Her heart was absolutely pounding now. What should she say? What should she do? How should she stand up for herself?_

_End Of Flashback…_

O~O~O~O~O

"We're here." Hound's voice broke Emma out of her reverie, as they drove into the Autobot's base – the Ark.

Emma's eyes widened in surprise as she took in her surroundings, but her worry for Platinum overrode her awe. Still, she noted that everything was bigger than usual, to accommodate for all the giant robots. She had only met three of them so far, and she didn't think Sunstreaker liked her. Oh well.

Hound took her straight to Ratchet, leaving the twins standing in the entrance room.

"Strange day, isn't it brother?" Sideswipe said conversationally.

"If you say so." Sunstreaker frowned. All he wanted now was a hose, and an industrial-sized bottle of turtle wax. Oh, and a medic. Too bad Ratchet was the only one.

"Anyway, things will be a lot more interesting from now on, won't they?" Sideswipe went on.

Sunstreaker just shrugged. He really couldn't care less. "Think Hatchet will patch me up as soon as he's done with that thing?"

Sideswipe rolled his optics (somehow). "That _thing_ was a Pythormer, bro."

Sunstreaker glanced at him. "But…what would a human be doing with a creature of the gods?"

Sideswipe couldn't keep the next thought to himself, and Sunstreaker's optics widened slightly. Could the girl really be that powerful?

O~O~O~O~O

If Ratchet was surprised when Hound came hurrying into the med bay with a strange girl holding a mythical creature, he didn't show it.

What he said, however, was: "I can't operate on the Pythormer when she's this small." Platinum, who was lying on the med table with Emma kneeling beside her (it was a _big_ med table), raised her head and looked at Emma. She was very weak. Emma gulped. Platinum seemed to sigh. Then, she started to grow in size, and become a whole lot bigger. In the end, Emma had moved back, and Platinum was now roughly the length of the entire med table. In other words, she was Transformer-sized now.

"Whoa…" Emma whispered. Then: "Hey, that would have come in a lot more handy out in the desert, Platinum!"

Platinum just flicked the end of her tail.

Ratchet glanced at her, before going over to get out hi medical tools. "I'll need peace and quiet when I'm fixing the Pythormer, so you two had best clear out."

_Yikes_, Emma thought, as she patted the jewel on Platinum's head one last time before climbing onto Hound's hand and then his shoulder. _Everything I read about him was true._

"Come on, Emma," Hound said, smiling reassuringly at her. He was used to Ratchet's behaviour, but he also knew that Platinum couldn't have a better medic. "I'll take you to see Prime."

"Optimus Prime?" Emma gasped, causing Hound to laugh a little.

"Yes, Optimus Prime." The green tracker smiled. "You know about him?"

"Well, yeah, who doesn't?" Emma said, as Hound walked down a long hallway. "Uh…did he send you out to find me?"

"Yup," Hound said cheerfully. "You were actually fairly easy to track – that was some power."

Emma looked down at her hands. "I…have no idea how it happened, or even what it was…" She felt very shy all of a sudden – she was talking to a Transformer, and a guy at that!

"Hmm…" Hound sounded thoughtful, just as a door from down the hall opened, and a very angry-looking blue and white Transformer stormed out. "Mirage…" Hound muttered, jumping back quickly to press himself back against the wall as Mirage stalked past them.

"What's his problem?" Emma whispered, but Hound didn't have an answer for her.

"Mirage, wait!"

Emma turned at the sound of the new voice, and recognized none other than Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. He was tall, red and blue, intimidating and impressive. He was, in a word, _awesome_.

"I am through with this entire charade, Optimus Prime!" Mirage spoke angrily. "There's nothing for me here!" His smooth voice was marred with the anger.

"How do you intend to return to Cybertron, Mirage?" Optimus wanted to know.

"I'll find a way!" The Autobot vowed, before turning again.

_No, he can't leave!_ Emma thought anxiously, seeing the panicked look on Hound's face. _The Autobots need to stick together!_ "Mirage!" She cried, her voice shimmering. As soon as the word was out of her mouth, the disc on her chest glowed intense blue, a blue which spread quickly all throughout the Ark.

From all around the base, shouts of surprise and shock were heard, as the Autobots within range were affected.

Just as quickly as it had appeared, the blue light vanished.

However, it left something very unexpected in its wake.

O~O~O~O~O

"We…failed to bring back what you asked us to retrieve, Lord Megatron." Starscream said, with all the mock regret he could muster. He was very mindful of Soundwave watching him, and attempted to block his thoughts from the tricky mind-reader. "The Autobots ambushed us, and attacked us with much force, as you can tell from Skywarp's injuries."

"You are an incompetent fool, Starscream," Megatron said shortly, and Starscream grimaced angrily. "Perhaps I should have sent Amberlite out instead of you!"

The Decepticon in question wasn't in the room at the moment, and for this Starscream was glad – this wasn't the first time Megatron had made this example.

"Did you at least see what was out there?" Megatron asked suddenly.

Starscream didn't glance back at his two fellow Seekers as he said: "I don't know what it was, my lord. I didn't get a good look at it." As he said this, he felt a strange jolt run through his body. Something told him Skywarp and Thundercracker felt it too, but Megatron and Soundwave appeared unaffected by it.

"You failed me again, Starscream." Megatron shook his head. _I should have replaced him years ago._ He thought, and, of course, only one other in the room heard that.

Another on the Decepticon base heard it too, however. Light red optics blinked. Megatron was yelling at Starscream again. There were many on the base who didn't like the second-in-command. He was a back-stabbing whiner who was guilty of trying to kill Megatron. Amberlite _hated_ that part but not Starscream himself. As a youngling, Amberlite didn't really hate anybody. Not even the Autobots, although Megatron planned to change that.

O~O~O~O~O

Platinum was not at all startled when he realised that Ratchet was now a lot smaller than she was. She just returned to her smaller form, and let him continue fixing her. A small smile crossed the Pythormer's face, though. Emma was going to freak out any minute now.

O~O~O~O~O

Emma gasped when she realised that he was now lying in Hound's arms…because he was Hound, but…he was…a human?

Emma was so startled that she just stared. Hound's holoform (if that's what it was) had tanned skin, messy black hair that was covered by a cowboy hat, and a little beard on his chin. He wore a green cowboy-like shirt and blue jeans. His eyes were the same bright blue they had always been, and she was so busy staring at them that she failed to realise what _else_ had happened.

But then, Optimus' voice cut through her awe. "Uh…what just…happened here?" He sounded like he really wanted to know.

Emma snapped her head around to look at him, and got _another_ surprise. Where Optimus Prime had been standing a moment ago, now stood a human, impressive-looking still. He was tall for a human, with blueish-black hair and piercing yet gentle blue eyes. He wore blue jeans, a red and blue jacket and white t-shirt. If she hadn't known he had a spark-mate already, then she would have probably started drooling. But, that wouldn't have been very dignified, right?

Which _reminded_ her…

She turned quickly to look at Mirage, somehow sitting up a little straighter in Hound's arms. Mirage was not facing them – he was still staring down the hallways seemingly at nothing.

He had shoulder-length black hair that looked like it had been washed lovingly, and he wore blue dress pants with a white shirt. She wished she could see his face.

"Mirage?" She asked tentatively, her silvery voice barely above a whisper. "Mirage…don't say there's nothing for you here. There's always something…always a reason why everyone is where they are…even…even if you were to return to Cybertron, that wouldn't change that fact…I know how you must feel, but…"

"How could you possibly know what this feels like?" Mirage was still too angry to pay much attention to what the girl was saying, or _how_ she was saying it. Just who was she, anyway? "What do you know of my suffering?"

"Look, I know what it's like to be away from home," Emma explained quietly, wishing Hound would put her down so she could stand up and put a little bit of feeling into these words. She sensed Mirage's anguish at being on Earth and not Cybertron, but she didn't know what else she could do. Was this the All-Spark helping her to understand what Mirage meant? Was this what Primus had meant about looking into her spark. "You feel out of place, like you don't know what you're doing because everything is different." She sighed. "At least that's how I feel." She took a deep breath. "But…I think that…everyone else here must feel that way too, at least sometimes. You aren't alone, Mirage. Primus puts us all in places where we need to be – you just have to figure out why."

Mirage sighed and, finally, he turned around.

He had one of the most handsome faces Emma had ever seen, and she found herself wondering if _all_ Transformers were this good-looking. _No, no stop thinking about that __**right now**__!_ She scolded herself, but then wondered if the Decepticons had holoforms. _Aurgh, what is _wrong_ with me today? !_ She also thought that the femmes must be very beautiful, and felt a little jealous. _Well, at least Optimus and Elita will always be perfect for each other, no matter what form they take…_

Mirage had a thoughtful look on his face, as he gazed at the girl in Hound's arms. She was small, with brown hair cut short and gold-platinum-coloured eyes. She was wearing a plain white dress and had on white sandals. A blue disc shining on her chest was a predominant feature of this strange girl…but Mirage found himself looking at her eyes, too. Was it possible…could a human _really_ understand how he felt?

"Mirage," That was Optimus speaking, darn he had to look away from the girl and at his commander now. "Do you think you may reconsider your bid to leave us?" He had no idea what the girl had just done, but it seemed to have calmed Mirage down. Now, if he could just figure out if they could get back to being robots or not…

Mirage glanced back at the girl, and the nodded to Optimus. "I believe I may, sir."

"Good." Optimus also glanced at the girl, who looked a little uncomfortable – probably because Hound hadn't put her down yet. Even though the girl seemed very light, it would have been difficult for any human to have held her for this length of time the way Hound was. Therefore, Optimus could only draw the conclusion that they had retained their strength during this bizarre turn of events. He also wondered if the other residents of the Ark had suffered the same transformation – and why it had only happened the second time a shockwave had hit, and not the first. "I must ask if you are responsible for this."

Emma's eyes widened in panic. "Yes! I mean, I think I was…but…" She looked up at Hound in alarm. "Hound, tell him I didn't do it on purpose! I didn't even know this could happen, even though you're Transformers!"

Mirage smiled slightly. He liked the way she pronounced some of her A's. She didn't say it like in 'ant', it was more like in 'are'. It was a more dignified, even when she was clearly alarmed. He also liked the strange shimmer that was in his voice. He hadn't heard that sort of thing from a human femme before, and robot femmes only had a slight mechanical sound to their voice, so this was something new.

Hound looked up at Optimus, but didn't say anything.

Optimus was regarding the newcomer thoughtfully, and then he said: "I see. What is your name?"

"Umm…Emma…" She said, a little worried still.

"Emma, do you know how to reverse the effects of this transformation?" Optimus asked her gently.

She gulped. "Umm…no…Platinum might, though…" She suggested.

"Platinum?"

"A Pythormer, sir." Hound informed him, and watched his leader's eyes widen ever so slightly. Optimus understood what this might mean.

"Do the Decepticons know about this?" Optimus wanted to know.

Hound nodded. "Starscream, Skywarp and Thundercracker were already there when I arrived, sir. They were going to take Emma with them."

Optimus closed his eyes briefly, just as running footsteps – human footsteps to be precise – could be heard, and his eyes snapped open.

Emma looked too and, when she saw the six new holoforms of the once Transformers standing there, it was decidedly too much for her to handle, especially when she saw the blood covering one of the man's arms.

Hound realised that she had fainted. "Emma? !" He cried, in somewhat alarm.

"Who's that?" Wheeljack wanted to know. His holoform had wavy golden blonde hair, and he wore a pair of black pants with a white shirt that, somehow, already seemed to be covered with soot and ash. His blue eyes were curious.

"The girl we brought in here earlier…" Sideswipe explained. His holoform had messy black hair with a red streak through it. He wore black jeans, a white top and a red hooded jacket. His blue eyes held a fair degree of mischief in there.

So did his brother's, though the look was slightly dampened by his disdain. "Not terribly brave though, is she?" He gestured with his good arm to the girl's unconscious form. He was annoyed now because his yellow hoodie was stained with red blood. It was going to get on his black shirt and black jeans too, he just _knew_ it. He ran a hand through his blonde hair with the black tips, and wondered if he looked handsome by human standards as well. Probably…

"Probably it's because you have all that blood on your arm, Sunstreaker." Bumblebee said cheerfully. _His_ holoform was the shortest; he had messy light blonde hair with a pair of goggles across the top of his head. He wore black jeans, a pale yellow t-shirt and a yellow jacket. Like Hound, he actually didn't look too upset about being turned into a human.

Sunstreaker sighed. "Thanks for reminding me, shorty. If you ask me, this is all _her_ fault." He glared at the unconscious girl.

"Now, now, Sunstreaker," Optimus said, quietly but firmly. "Emma has stated that none of this was done by design – we also have reason to believe that she may not be from around here, so please be nice to her." There was a slight note of warning in his voice that everyone picked up on.

Prowl stepped forward. "Optimus Prime, sir, if she is not from here, then where _is_ she from?" The Autobot who could turn into a police car had a very befitting holoform. He was tall, with straight black hair that hung down his neck and glasses over his deep blue eyes. He was wearing a police-officer's uniform, and a calm yet wary expression. "And…how was she able to turn us into what we are now?" _How I this even_ possible_?_

Optimus shook his head. "Those things…I do not know, Prowl. All I know is that, for now, we must keep her safe. The Decepticons were after her, perhaps for this very reason we are faced with now." He glanced at the girl, who looked very peaceful in Hound's arms. _That such a young girl could possibly hold the powers of Primus. Why? And why was she brought to us now?_ He knew that, above all else, he must keep her out of the Decepticons' hands. The blue disc on her chest intrigued him. It burned with a faint and subtle intensity, a small scale spark, perhaps? But how? "Hound?"

"Yes, sir?" Hound adjusted his hold on Emma slightly.

"Take Emma to the room that Spike and Sparkplug set up, just in case they ever had to stay over here. For now, that will serve as our guest's room."

"Yes, sir." Hound nodded, and set off down the hallway with his precious cargo. He was so happy he could've started singing, but he refrained from doing so. He had always wanted to be a human and now, thanks to this strange girl, he had gotten that chance. Even if it was only temporary, Hound was very happy.

In the room, which had a separate washroom, a couch, a TV, a chest-of-drawers and a bed, Hound laid Emma carefully down on said bed, before carefully covering her up with the blanket that was there.

He looked at her for a few moments, before whispering: "Thank you, Emma, whoever you are."

He could've sworn he saw the sleeping girl smile, just a little bit...

O~O~O~O~O

"Prowl, Mirage," Optimus said to the two of them. "Make an announcement over the PA to the rest of the Ark, asking any who have been turned into humans to report to the meeting room."

"Sir." They both nodded, and walked down the hallway in the same direction Hound had gone.

"Bumblebee," Optimus went on. "I need you to contact Spike and Sparkplug. We may require their assistance in dealing with this matter."

"Sure thing, Prime." Bumblebee replied, and walked off in the other direction to where the others had gone.

"Jazz," Optimus turned to the one in question. Jazz's holoform was decidedly _cool_ looking – he was African-American in appearance (which suited him to a T), with dark brown, almost black dreadlocks and sunglasses over his contrasting blue eyes. He wore a black t-shirt with a red and blue design on it. His jacket and dress-pants were white. "I need you to come with me to the med-bay. I would like to see Emma's Pythormer for myself."

"A Pythormer?" Jazz seemed impressed. He nodded, and then glanced at the twins. "You cats'd better come too – might want Ratchet to check out that arm, Sunny."

Sunstreaker just rolled his eyes. It made him look very contemptuous.

"Alright," Optimus nodded. "Let's rol-I mean, uh…"

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe smirked. Truly, despite everything, it was worth it just to see Optimus Prime unable to say his most often used phrase.

Jazz said: "Uh, may I suggest, _stroll_ out, sir?"

Optimus' eyes widened. "_Stroll_ out?" He repeated.  
>Yes, it had truly been worth it.<p> 


	4. Aquamarine And Hound–Dog

TRANSFORMERS

Imperial Wings

_A girl is given a second chance at life, in exchange for ending the war of Transformers. It's about as easy as it sounds. And, whilst sorting out her own life, she discovers two younglings without mothers, and the reason why their families fight._

CHAPTER FOUR

Aquamarine And Hound-Dog

O~O~O~O~O

_Another Flashback:_

_Emma watched as her sister nursed their new cousin-in-law, noticing how at ease Sarah seemed, holding the twenty-seven hour old baby._

_She held out her arms after awhile, and Sarah handed the baby to her._

_Noticing that Rickie-Lee, her cousin's girlfriend, was watching her, Emma gulped and held the baby in her arms. 'Wait, am I doing this right'? She thought, a little bit worried because Bella didn't seem to be very comfortable. She was even whimpering a little bit. 'Oh no…' Emma thought, panicked. Her heart-beat quickened._

"_She looks like she's gonna drop her." Rickie-Lee said bluntly._

"_Are you okay?" Clinton, Emma's cousin, asked her._

_Perhaps babies were like horses and could sense fear, because Bella began to cry softly. Her face pale, Emma surrendered the newborn to its Father, wondering how on earth Clinton could hold her so easily._

_Probably because Rickie-Lee wasn't glaring at him the way she was at Emma._

'_But…that's not fair…Rickie-Lee's been around kids her whole life, she took care of her baby siblings, but I'm the youngest in my family…maybe I'll_ never_ be able to hold a newborn…but, then, what will happen when _I_ have kids?'_

_The thought upset her, but she waited until she was in the bathroom to start sobbing. _

_End Of Flashback…_

O~O~O~O~O

When Emma came to, the first thing she realised was that she was lying in a bed, which sheet and pillow were very comfortable.

The second thing she realised was that she was being watched. She opened her eyes quickly and sat up.

"Hello!" The cheerful voice said to her.

Emma stared into the pale blue eyes of the little girl, blinking in shock. Where was she again?

"Uh…" Emma said. "Who are…?"

"My name's Aquamarine!" The little girl exclaimed. She couldn't have been more than two, about the same age Emma's cousin-in-law was now. However, what was notable about _this_ toddler was how cute she was – she was going to be beautiful when she grew up. Standing on tiptoe the little girl only _just_ reached the bed. She had strawberry-blonde curls that framed her face, and the _biggest_ blue eyes Emma had ever seen. The little girl wore a pink t-shirt with a picture of a blue crown on it, and a blue jeans skirt. A blue bow adorned her hair.

Emma stared at her for a moment, and then lay back down again quickly.

"What's wrong?" Aquamarine wanted to know.

"I'm still dreaming," Emma replied firmly, shutting her eyes. "None of this is actually happening…" Then, she noticed the blue disc on her chest, and felt the rumblings in her stomach. She sat up again. "Or…maybe it is…oh fr…" She suddenly glanced at the two-year-old. "Fragments…" She said carefully. Then again, if this little girl lived on the base, or had spent any time around the Lamborghini twins and/or Ratchet, then she'd know what 'frag' meant anyway.

"I can prove you're not dreaming!" Aquamarine said suddenly, taking Emma's hand in her own tiny one. "Come on, Emma!"

Emma numbly allowed herself to be stood up and then led out of the room. She opened the door inwards…and four men who had apparently been leaning on the door fell at the feet of the two startled girls.

Emma's face flushed brilliant red.

Two of the guys she thought might be Sunstreaker and Sideswipe and _Primus_ were they hot! The other two she didn't really recognize. One had black hair and tanned skin. He wore a simple outfit of white dress pants with a black t-shirt. The other one had _blue_ hair, the colour of Zero's in the Mamotte! Lollipop manga, which matched his eyes perfectly. He wore blue jeans and a silver t-shirt under a blue jacket. Both were unfamiliar but _very_ good looking.

_Stop thinking about them like that, they're too good for you for _goodness_ sake!_

The four guys hurried to stand up.

"Were you spying out here the whole time?" Aquamarine asked the four men, glaring up at them.

"No," The one with tanned skin said. "We just…"

"Unforgivable!" Aquamarine crossed her arms. "I order the four of you to report back that Emma has woken up, and that I will be bringing her into the meeting room now!" She said firmly.

Emma watched with some amusement coupled only by her curiosity that the four men nodded meekly and slunk away like dogs with their tails between their legs. Why did they listen to this little kid, anyway?

Aquamarine smiled up at her. "Shall we go?" She asked brightly, slipping her hand into Emma's.

The two of them walked down the hallways, which gradually grew bigger but Aquamarine seemed to know where she was going.

Emma, her curiosity raging, asked: "Those were Autobots just then, right?"

Aquamarine nodded. "They've been having fun figuring out how to go back and forth between Transformer-form and human-form." She grinned. "It's been very exciting, but we wanted you to wake up soon."

"Uh…how long was I asleep, exactly?" Emma wanted to know.

"You were in recharge for two days." Aquamarine replied, and didn't seem to notice that her statement unnerved the guest.

"Uh…so, anyway, who were those guys just now? Were two of them Sunstreaker and Sideswipe?' Emma wanted to know.

Aquamarine nodded again. "Mmhmm. The twins. They're fun to be around. Sunny was in yellow, and Sides was in red. The others ones, the one with blue hair was Bluestreak, and the one with darker skin was Trailbreaker."

"Ah…" Emma said thoughtfully. _I wonder where the others are…just how many Autobots are there here, anyway?_ She voiced this to Aquamarine.

"Eighteen, plus me." The little girl replied promptly. "They're all in the meeting room, come on." She led Emma up to a door, from which beyond they could both hear voices. Aquamarine touched the door, and it opened, to reveal a roomful of giant transforming robots. "Daddy!" Aquamarine called, letting go of Emma's hand and hurrying into the room. Her human-form shimmered for a moment, before she became a smaller version of the bigger robots, even smaller than Bumblebee. Optimus Prime caught her in his arms, and it was then that Emma could see just how alike they looked. Aquamarine was mostly blue as a robot, with lighter blue where Optimus had white, but she had pink where he had red. She had a helmet similar to Optimus', except her audio-receptors looked like spikers on either side of her face, which was light blue with just the faintest trace of darker blue lipstick.

She was his daughter.

Emma stood frozen to the spot. Her face was the colour of paper and Hound, who was watching, hoped that she wouldn't pass out again. _At least this explains why the guys listened to her – she's the boss's kid!_

Suddenly, a man walked into the room behind her, and she turned. He had reddish-brown hair and soft blue eyes. He wore white dress pants, a red short and a white medical coat. He glanced at her as he walked past her, and then stopped and took a closer look at her.

"How do you feel?" He asked her. It was Ratchet.

"Uh…overwhelmed, I guess…" She whispered, just as a small pink something with four wings flew over to her. "_Platinum_!" She exclaimed happily, forgetting her shyness and smiling happily. The Pythormer rubbed her head against the side of Emma's face, before settling down to coil around the girl's neck." You're all better…" Emma looked at Ratchet, still smiling. "Thank you, so much…she means a lot to me…"

"Don't mention it." Ratchet replied shortly, walking past her and then transforming when he was halfway to the group of other robots.

The white and red mech joined them, and then, to Emma, the picture was complete.

However, one thing hassled her mind: _Where is Elita-One?_

O~O~O~O~O

An hour later, everyone was silent as Optimus and Emma had finished trading stories, and the Autobots were a little shocked by what the latter had just told them.

Another world?

A TV show?

_Primus_?

Emma was looking decidedly uncomfortable as she sat there on the little chair, feeling like she was being interrogated or something (Prowl's presence did nothing to help the matter). She had the strangest feeling that a few of the mechs were eyeing her for some reason, and she wasn't sure she appreciated it. It made her feel like a complete alien (which, she reminded herself, she _was_…"

Aquamarine (whom almost everybody on the Ark called Aqua) was sitting on her Father's knee, looking over at Emma with the biggest smile on her youngling face. Emma thought that Aqua must be very lucky, and special. She must be protected by the Autobots, being a youngling, a femme and Optimus Prime's daughter. She thought Aqua might also be a little bit _spoilt_, but that she was basically an average curious and friendly little kid. Oh, except that she was a robot.

Optimus had not mentioned Elita yet, so Emma assumed the pink-femme had either met with some ill-fate, or been separated from her family somehow. Either way, she felt a rush of affection for the little girl robot known as Aqua. Though Aqua was clearly her Daddy's little girl, Emma also knew (somehow) that the youngling must miss her Mother terribly.

"So," Emma said, breaking the silence, her heart (spark?) pounding in her chest. "What…happens now?" All eyes were on her. She didn't really like speaking in front of others. When it was just one or two she was okay. A whole room? Cringe factor. What she _preferred_ were two or three _females_ she had known for awhile. What she'd gotten was a roomful of males, whom she'd only known for a few days. Oh, and one little girl who was now looking up at her Father.

"She can stay, can't she Daddy?" Aqua asked.

Optimus glanced at his daughter, and then swiftly swept his gaze over the entire room. Something he saw sparked a key of interest in the commander – there was something different about the way his fellow Autobots were looking at the newcomer. He wanted to know more about that, among other things. And, of course, he had to keep the girl away from Megatron. He nodded. "She may stay."

Emma was visibly surprised when a group of the mechs in the room cheered, Sideswipe and Hound included. Her face was flaming red by this stage and Platinum, looped around her neck, hissed in amusement. Emma was going to find out for herself just what this was all about, and Platinum knew beyond doubt that Emma would quickly discover she had nothing to be uncomfortable about. These mechs were young but harmless, and the Pythormer knew that Emma would enjoy being around them. No, what worried Platinum were the Decepticons, namely Starscream and his fellow Seekers. Oh, how she would _love_ to sink her fangs into all three of them. Maybe she'd get her chance someday…she still couldn't believe Skywarp had called Emma a cutie…if the Autobots found out…

"We'll need to keep her safe from the Decepticons," Optimus told his crew, and then turned to Emma. "I would advise you to stay on the Ark mostly but, if you have to leave, you should go with your guardian."

"My guardian?" Emma repeated.

Optimus nodded. "The Autobot who will stay with you and protect you for most of the time. You can have a few days to decide if you…"

Emma glanced at him for a moment, before daring to look at the mechs. A couple of them – namely Sideswipe, Bluestreak and Trailbreaker – were leaning forwards slightly. She blinked, and then looked at Hound. "I choose Hound." She smiled, and the green Autobot's face lit up. "Because he found me and all." She explained shyly.

"Very well," Optimus said. "Hound, does this suit you?" He asked the tracker.

Hound's blue optics couldn't possibly shine anymore. "You bet, Optimus Prime!" He smiled at Emma, whom ducked her head in embarrassment. One good thing, though – she might not feel so shy if she got to know him better.

"Lucky slagger." Sideswipe muttered, and Sunstreaker rolled his optics. He knew that his brother wanted to be the one to guard the girl, but she'd chosen Hound, for reasons beyond them both. It couldn't be helped. Hound was the one who would protect Emma from the Decepticons first and foremost,

Looking at the way Hound was looking at Emma, Optimus Prime knew they had nothing to worry about. It made him curious, though…for he knew what those looks meant.

O~O~O~O~O

A couple of days later, Hound and Emma were cruising together across the desert, towards the city. Spike's girlfriend, Carly, had offered to go shopping with Emma, to buy some essentials. Emma had met both Carly and Spike, as well as Sparkplug, and liked them all a lot.

She still preferred the Autobots, though. Having a guardian meant that he was forced to talk to him often, and they were quickly becoming friends. She was less shy around him, and also found it easy to talk to little Aqua, as well as the most friendly Autobots like Jazz and Bumblebee. The others – particularly Sideswipe and Trailbreaker – she wasn't sure about. They were very…_out_ there, in a way. Sunstreaker and Prowl were on the other extreme – it was like two brick walls. Prowl she had more or less expected, but she was sad at not being able to befriend the yellow Lamborghini. She supposed he really didn't like her. She also had trouble talking to Optimus Prime – he somewhat intimidated her, although she supposed Megatron must be worse. Anyway, she thought he (Optimus Prime) was a good leader and a good Father, so she could accept that.

"Hey, Emma," Hound's holoform turned towards her. He had taken to using his holoform whenever they went out together, and often around the base as well. He was becoming very good at using it to pretend to drive, and Emma thought she could get use to it. It was also interesting for her to note that, when in holoform, the Autobots effectively _were_ humans – they could even eat and drink. It was unreal. It had freaked out the most logical member of the group. "Spike and Carly have invited us all to a Fourth Of July BBQ at the lake on the weekend. We're all gonna go in holoform, those of us who _are_ going, that is."

"I've never been to a Fourth Of July event before," Emma admitted.

"Neither have I," Hound smiled at her. "It'll be a new experience for us both, then." _As long as the Decepticons don't attack, that is._ He thought.

Almost as if she read his mind, Emma spoke up. "Umm…will Optimus let us go?"

"He said as long as I'm there with you, then it's okay." Hound replied.

Emma wondered: _Just what did he mean by that?_ A spark of irritation. _Does he think I can't look after myself? I reckon Platinum and I could take on Skywarp again, no problem. He's scared to death of her, anyway._

The snake in question always remained with Emma, whether looped around her neck or flying close by. Emma was dying to figure out whether or not she could ride the snake's bigger form, but decided against finding out. She once got thrown off a pony, and that thing was on the ground.

Speaking of which…she glanced at Hound's holoform again. _In that cowboy hat, I'll bet he looks good on a horse…_ She blushed. Why was she born a fan-girl, anyway?

Ah, she needed music…music always helped things.

Hound chose that moment to turn the radio on, and guess which Elvis Presley song came on?

Emma grinned, and tried to resist the impulse to sing at the top of her lungs, as they drove under the endless blue sky.


	5. Cons Crash The Party – Summer Heats Up!

TRANSFORMERS

Imperial Wings

_A girl is given a second chance at life, in exchange for ending the war of Transformers. It's about as easy as it sounds. And, whilst sorting out her own life, she discovers two younglings without mothers, and the reason why their families fight._

CHAPTER FIVE

Decepticons Crash The Party – Summer Heats Up!

O~O~O~O~O

Carly was a pretty blonde-haired girl with bright green eyes and the most outgoing and friendly personality Emma had ever encountered. She seemed to sense that Emma didn't take to strangers very easily, and gently encouraged her to speak her mind. Emma thought they may become good friends.

On the day of the BBQ, Hound dropped Emma off at Carly's house. Bumblebee and Spike would pick both girls up from there. Hound was worried about leaving Emma's side for too long, but he had no other choice considering what had happened a few days ago…

O~O~O~O~O

_Flashback To A Few Days Ago:_

_Emma, wearing a white tennis outfit supplied by Carly, made a dramatic leap at the light green ball, but missed, to her dismay._

_Carly and Spike laughed, but not in a mean way, though Emma's faced still flamed red, as she gulped. How embarrassing!_

"_It's okay, Emma," Carly said cheerfully, as Hound (in his holoform, now also wearing tennis whites) retrieved the tennis ball. "Not everyone can hit the ball when I serve it…" She paused, and then shrugged. "In fact, no one can – I make up for Spike's chronic tennis-elbow!"_

"_Hey!" Spike protested, as Hound laughed and Emma, after a moment, allowed herself to smile. "Who was it that broke down on the highway and needed to call her boyfriend to help?"_

_Carly's hands flew to her hips, but she was smiling. "Oh, but let me __**remind**__ you that it was that same boyfriend who said that ancient box-on-wheels would be okay until I got home. And was it? No."_

_Spike laughed, before kissing Carly, who kissed back._

_Gulping at the sudden display of affection between a boyfriend and girlfriend, Emma turned away. "I'm gonna use the bathroom, I'll be back in a tick." She didn't look at Hound as she walked away, dropping her tennis racket as she did._

"_Okay, hurry back." Hound advised her. He glanced up at the skies, but she didn't see. "Who knows what could be out there…"_

"_Mmm." She nodded, before increasing her pace. She didn't _really_ need to use the bathroom, she just suddenly wanted a moment to herself. She just hoped she wouldn't get upset. Primus, why was she so emotional?_

_Platinum flew after her, and wrapped around her neck._

"_Yeah, I know," Emma sighed, and stopped on the grass about halfway between the tennis courts and the bathroom. "I _could_ actually use some male company, somehow…" She clenched her fists and then unclenched them. "Anyone…?"_

_The blue and white Seeker known as Thundercracker literally dropped out of the sky in front of her._

"_Except you." Emma groaned, and then she realised what was happening. Her breath hitched in her throat, and she wanted to yell out for Hound, but couldn't, somehow. She was frozen in fear again, but, luckily, Hound seemed to have a sixth sense. In his robot mode he came barrelling towards them, crash-tackling Thundercracker away from his human._

_Emma gasped, as Spike and Carly ran up to her, and together the three of them watched the Autobot and the Decepticon disappear from sight._

"_Hound!" Emma whispered._

_Carly and Spike nodded, and the three of them ran towards the direction the two robots had disappeared._

_They were relieved to see Thundercracker fly away as they approached, and Hound coming towards them, looking slightly shaken but not injured._

"_Are you alright?" Spike wanted to know._

_Hound nodded, and then glanced down at Emma. Something thudded in his spark, as he said something he _knew_ was going to hurt her: "Emma…I…don't think I can be your guardian anymore…"_

_As he'd predicted, the human's golden eyes widened, and her face paled. "W-what?" She stammered, looking desperately at Carly and Spike who seemed as shocked as she was. "B-but, _why_, Hound? You only just _became_ my guardian…" She gulped, trying to keep the tears down. "S-so _why_? !"_

_Hound couldn't tell her but, later on, he told Optimus, who agreed with him. So, why did it hurt Hound so much?_

_End Of Flashback…_

O~O~O~O~O

Emma got dressed at Carly's, feeling a little bit sad that Hound couldn't be her guardian anymore. Why had he said that? What had made him change his mind? They had been on the way to becoming good friends, and now…

"Emma, are you ready?" Carly came into the room, wearing a white top that tied at the front and blue three-quarter-length denim shorts, but stopped when she saw Emma. "Wow, that dress really suits you, Emma." She commented. "I chose well…"

"Uh…thanks…" Emma said awkwardly. "You look great, too…" She glanced down at her own ensemble. "Umm…I'm not too…plain? It seems like my other dress, somehow…"

"Emma, did you see the movie _Dirty Dancing_?" Carly wanted to know. "The one that's coming out next month in this world but apparently your world's already past that?" Carly and Spike naturally knew all about Emma's planet-hopping experience.

"Well yeah, who hasn't?" Emma shrugged. "It's like my Mum's favourite movie." She felt a bit awkward mentioning all this.

"Well," Carly stated confidently. "If you don't get called _Baby_ by at least one guy tonight, then I will be very, _very_ surprised."

"Oh no…" Emma muttered. She certainly didn't want to be called _that_! It was bad enough that Skywarp called her a cutie! "Do I _really_ look like her?" She wailed.

"Stop worrying!" Carly scolded lightly, grabbing Emma's arm and marching with her out of the room. "You'll be with Spike and me, and the Autobots!"

"_That's _what I was afraid of…" Emma muttered. _I'm not cut out for this, Primus…_ She thought.

Platinum hissed softly. She was looking forward to the party.

O~O~O~O~O

The Autobots who had decided to attend the BBQ in their holoforms were: Jazz (or course), Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Bumblebee and Hound. Aqua had wanted to come, but Optimus had said no, absolutely _not_. The others accepted this, though Emma thought Optimus was being a bit too protective. She didn't say this, of course.

Jazz was thrilled to be out socializing, of course. Sunstreaker hadn't wanted to come, but Sideswipe had forced him to go. Hound liked that the BBQ was outdoors by the beautiful lake.

Bumblebee, of course, had gotten the job of car-pooling the humans to the lake, something he was looking forward to since he liked their human friends.

Emma, he thought, looked really pretty, and her face turned red when he said this to her. He remembered that humans, especially femmes, could be shy, but he honestly thought that she looked beautiful. The dress really suited her. He also knew that she must be feeling a little sad about Hound not being her guardian anymore. Bumblebee didn't know the reason why Hound had quit – only Optimus did. A new guardian would probably be assigned but, for now, Bumblebee was responsible for her and the other humans.

Emma seemed to cheer up a bit when Bumblebee turned on the radio, and sat quietly in the front seat and listened to Spike and Carly singing (off-key) in the back-seat.

"Sing with us, Emma!" Carly urged her, as _Livin' On A Prayer_ by Bonjovi came on. "I'll bet you have a _really_ great voice, better than Spike's, anyway!"

"Hey!"

Emma just grimaced and shook her head quickly, wondering if she _did_ have a good voice, but feeling _way_ too shy to find out. Maybe later. For now, she was just content to sit back and let herself go partially deaf from her human friends' off-key singing. Even though Platinum was giving her a Look…

"Tell you what," Carly said suddenly. "If someone calls you _baby_ tonight, then you have to sing, got it?"

Emma gaped. What was Carly doing, trying to destroy Emma's comfort zone forever? !

"In fact," Carly mused. "I believe I'll have you singing a Belinda Carlisle song…"

"Hey!" Emma protested. "Don't just decide things for yourself! Besides…" She said, softly now. "Who even thinks I look like her?"

"I do." Bumblebee piped up.

"Quiet, you." Emma said firmly. "And, now telling anyone to call me that, k? Or else I'll know!"

O~O~O~O~O

"What is it human-femmes and mechs as handsome as I am?" Sunstreaker wanted to know, smirking slightly as a group of girls about Emma's age gasped when they saw him, and began chattering excitedly.

"This coming from a mech who didn't even wanna make the scene…" Jazz mused, moving his head slightly in time to the music that was playing from the loud-speakers. Then, he noticed something. "Speakin' of makin' the scene…" He raised an eyebrow slightly, a small smile on his face. "That'd be _them_ now."

Sunny and Sides turned, and saw four figures walking towards them. The twins' gazes somehow bypassed Carly, Bumblebee and Spike, and came to rest on Emma, who stopped walking when she saw the twins looking at her.

Carly turned, and smiled. "Emma's a little bit worried about her dress tonight, fellas."

Sideswipe bit back the remark he was dying to make, and instead said: "Emma, you look great! Hey, do you mind if I call you b-"

Emma's eyes widened and, in a second, she had run up to Sideswipe, and gotten behind him, clamping one hand firmly over his mouth.

Sunstreaker, Carly, Spike, Bumblebee and Jazz just stared at her.

Sideswipe looked completely shocked. He hadn't expected someone that small to move that fast and, yet, here she was, pressed up against him with one had pressed across his mouth, effectively shutting him up.

"_Yes_, Sideswipe," She hissed, at the same time Platinum did. "_Tonight_, I _do_ mind if you call me that! Tonight, it's a four-letter word! Understood?"

He could only nod. Sunstreaker was smirking at him. Sideswipe _really_ wished he wouldn't. He could also smell a faint scent of something like nutmeg on Emma. It was beautiful.

Emma sighed, and finally released Sideswipe. That was when she seemed to realise what she'd just done. "Yikes! Sorry, Sides! I got carried away a bit there!" She stepped back from him, her face scarlet.

Carly gave her a Look. "You just couldn't help yourself, could you?"

Emma sighed. "Impulse got the better of me."

Sideswipe grinned at her. "No problem –will you at least dance with me?" The song that was playing was a good one – everyone seemed to like it.

Emma looked startled, and then positively alarmed. "N-no!" She exclaimed. Sideswipe looked crestfallen. "I mean…I don't dance…" She explained hastily, not wanting to offend him. "I never could, never will…" _Not after that one incident…_she thought. She looked over at Jazz. "Where's Hound? Did he come?"

Jazz nodded, seeming slightly amused by the human's antics. She was an interesting character, to say the very least. The dark-skinned man pointed to the water's edge, where a dark-haired man stood staring out at the water.

"I think I'll go see him." Emma declared, casting an apologetic glance at Sideswipe before hurrying off towards the lake.

On the way, a few people looked at her, but none really seemed to pay her much attention, which suited her just fine. She thought they must be wondering about why there was a pink snake around her neck, certainly Platinum got a few more stares, but nobody really seemed bothered.

Probably because they were used to Autobots and Decepticons destroying half their cities, so why not a girl with a blue disc on her chest and a pink winged-snake around her neck? Must be just a weird fashion accessory…

Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Carly, Spike, Jazz and Bumblebee watched Emma go.

Sideswipe sighed. "Uh…guys…I don't think Emma likes me very much…"

Carly tried to smooth things over. "No, no, Sideswipe, it's not that at all. She's just shy." She explained what had happened in the car.

Sideswipe's blue eyes widened, and he and his brother exchanged a startled glance. "D-do you think she _can_ sing?" Sideswipe asked eagerly.

Spike shrugged. "Who knows what the All-Spark is capable of…I think only Primus or whoever would know."

"I don't think he's gonna tell us." Bumblebee said sensibly.

"I wonder…" Sideswipe said thoughtfully, looking around at all the guys at the BBQ.

Spike guessed what he was thinking. "No way, Sideswipe, if you're thinking of asking a random stranger to call Emma 'baby' then just forget it. She'll know." He glanced towards the lake. Emma had turned around, and was looking at him. He shuddered. "She _always_ knows…"

"Well, what then?" Sideswipe was frustrated.

"The only way would be for someone who's _not_ at the party now to call her 'baby'," Carly stated. "That way, Emma wouldn't suspect that _we_ had anything to do with it."

"What do you propose we do?" Sunstreaker asked. "Just wait for some random Decepticon to _fall_ out of the sky and start complimenting her?"

The others were silent as they realised that Sunstreaker's statement was probably _no_ so farfetched.

Then, Carly raised an eyebrow. "Why do _you_ care?" She wanted to know. "I thought you didn't like her."

"I _don't_!" Sunstreaker snapped, before storming away to the drinks table with his twin brother at his heels.

Carly, Bumblebee, Spike and Jazz decided to go for a walk to the other side of the lake, where the party had spread to.

This turned out to be a mistake, on their part.

O~O~O~O~O

Emma detoured. She wanted to see her former guardian and ask him what was wrong – he'd even been avoiding her on the base! But, now, he was being chatted up by a girl with a stunning figure, very short shorts and a cowboy hat. Emma made a huge detour instead, going over to some rocks and sitting by the water.

Platinum uncoiled herself from the girl's neck and stretched out on a rock, letting her robot body soak up the…moonlight.

"I wanted to dance with Sideswipe," Emma said sadly. "But, I wanted to see Hound too and find out what's wrong. Why did he stop being my guardian? But, now, he's being chatted up by a girl." She sighed, and leaned back on her hands, looking up at the night sky. She had forgotten about how warm summer could get. It was winter back home, in Australia…on another planet.

Emma sighed.

"Hi there," A voice snapped her out of her reverie, and she turned to see a man a few years older than her, wearing jeans and a t-shirt and smelling slightly of alcohol. There was beer being served at the party, she knew, but how could he smell so strongly of the stuff already?

"H-hi…" She stammered, on guard, standing up quickly.

Platinum hissed softly, and flew up onto Emma's shoulder.

"Whoa," The man's grey eyes widened. "Cool pet…what is it?"

"A Transformer," Emma replied quietly, wishing the man would look somewhere else other than at her. The man reached out to touch Platinum. "Don't!" Emma said quickly. "Sh-she bites."

The man withdrew his hand, and then used it to straighten up a lock of her hair that had fallen across her face.

Emma stiffened. _This…this isn't happening! This doesn't happen to me, only to other poor people!_ She wanted to speak but, quite suddenly, she couldn't. It was as if she was frozen to the spot in fear. _Platinum_, she thought desperately. _DO something! !_

As if hearing her thoughts, Platinum slid off from around Emma's shoulders, and flew away towards the BBQ.

Emma's heart began to hammer in her chest. Where was Platinum going? And _why_? ! She was alone, now!

"All alone now, eh?" The man clarified her fears.

Emma couldn't even speak.

O~O~O~O~O

Platinum flew straight at Hound, getting in between him and the skank in the cowboy hat and too-short-shorts. The little pink snake ignored the startled girl, and clamped her mouth onto Hound's hand in a dry-bite – fangs _not_ included. She tugged urgently at the Autobot's holoform and, as if sensing what was going on, Hound allowed himself to be led and then followed, forgetting instantly about the girl who had been flirting with him.

She watched him go, sullenly.

Hound saw where Platinum was leading him to, and broke into a run, seeing instantly what was going on and cursing inwardly for allowing it to happen. Just because he couldn't be the one to defend her from the Decepticons, didn't mean he didn't need to shield her from other dangers.

Like drunk men, for example.

Hound was willing to like humans – he thought they were amazing creatures, and he found them fascinating. However, to see a human mech treat a human fem this was…well, quite unforgivable. There was something very symbolic and pure about the way Emma had chosen to dress tonight (or, they Carly had chosen to outfit her). To see this strange man putting his hands on Emma's arms…

"Emma!" Hound called to her, swiftly placing himself in between the offender and Emma.

"Hound!" She sounded so relieved that, for a moment, he hardly noticed her voice was shaking – but, it was.

He turned to the man, his blue eyes calm but glaring. "Please leave her alone, sir."

The man glared back at him for a moment, before noticing the red symbol on Hound's cowboy hat. His grey eyes became the size of hubcaps, nearly. "Y-you're an Autobot?" He stammered and, without waiting for an answer, turned and hurried away, back towards the party.

Emma and Hound watched him go, as Platinum fluttered between them.

"He seemed scared." Emma noted.

"That's because he knew he was doing the wrong thing." Hound replied calmly. He felt anything _but_ calm, however. Emma was standing very close to him and, from where he stood, he smelt the nutmeg scent of her body, a strange kind of aroma.

Emma nodded. "That was terrible." She muttered.

"You're fine now," Hound assured her.

"You helped me out," She looked up at him suddenly, her eyes focused on his. "You stood up for me, against a human, so…so…why don't you want to be my guardian anymore? !" She burst out.

Hound looked startled for a moment. A deep pang echoed in his chest, he tried to ignore it as he shifted his gaze and said: "It's not that I don't _want_ to…it's just that…it would be better if I…wasn't…"

"Why?" She said, her voice shaking. "Hound, what happened?" She reached out tentatively and touched his hand gently. The feeling sent sparks up Hound's arm – her skin was so soft! "Did something happen?"

_Yes!_ Hound wanted to scream. _I'm only hurting you to protect you, but it's hurting me too!_ Instead, he just shook his head, and stepped away. "N-no, I just…I have to go…" He turned and hurried off, in the direction of the woods.

A lump formed in Emma's throat, and she willed herself not to cry. Hound wasn't going to be her guardian anymore, Sunstreaker hated her and probably now Sideswipe did too…why? What did she do wrong?

"Why don't they like me, Platinum?" Emma muttered, and then a determination took over her. "Platinum? Go and find Hound!" She pointed to the dark woods.

Platinum gave her a look that clearly said: Why don't _you_ go?

"Because I have to stay here where the others can see me," Emma said patiently: "Prime's orders. Please, Platinum?"

The robot snake seemed to sigh, and then flew off in the direction Hound had taken.

Emma sighed again, and looked down at the disc on her chest. "This night couldn't _possibly_ get any worse…" She exclaimed, her shrill voice carrying across the lake.

"Tempting fate a bit there, Emma." Came a dark voice from above.

O~O~O~O~O

"DECEPTICONS! !" Somebody screamed, as the two Seekers known as Skywarp and Thundercracker transformed just above the lake and landed, showering everyone with water.

"IT'S THE SEEKERS! !" Another person yelled.

"Cool," Skywarp told Thundercracker, grinning wildly. "We're just like those villains you see on TV."

"Yeah, 'cept we're better fliers." Thundercracker's red optics glowed, as he caught sight of Emma standing on the rocks by the lake, soaking wet and looking up at them in horror. "And there's the princess." He said." Let's get her before those Autobots show up."

"Not that that tracker will show up, after what you said to him." Skywarp responded, and Emma's eyes widened.

"Thundercracker!" She cried, her voice ringing. "What did you _say_ to Hound? What did you tell him?" _Is this why he couldn't be my guardian anymore?_ Speaking a little bit more calmly, she said: "That day when you attacked me by the tennis courts…what did you say to Hound?"

Skywarp suddenly had his hand wrapped around her and, for the second time, she found herself being picked up by the purple and black Seeker. She sighed. She was going to get a complex from this, for sure. It didn't bother her as much as the drunken man touching her arms had, though.

Skywarp brought her up to eye-level, and she knew it was only a matter of time before the two of them flew off – with her. So, to stall for time until someone showed up to rescue her, and also to get answers, she twisted around to look at Thundercracker. "What did you say to Hound?" She demanded, her voice shaking, her heart/spark pounding.

"Just that we were pretty sure we'd be able to find you from now on," Thundercracker told her.

She gasped." You knew he was my guardian?"

"No," Thundercracker smirked. "He probably just interpreted it that way."

"_And broke my spark_!" Emma cried shrilly. "I thought he was like Sunstreaker and hated me!"

"Well, isn't that just too sad?' Thundercracker mocked her. "You'll have plenty of time to get over it when we're aboard the Nemesis." He informed her.

Emma paled. "Wait…what?" She began to struggle, of course it was futile but she tried anyway. "We've been through this before, I'm _not_ going! Where's Starscream, anyway? !" She demanded to know.

"Probably dealing with your former guardian as we speak." Thundercracker responded.

"Hey," Skywarp said suddenly. "You know who she looks like, in that pretty little dress of hers?"

Thundercracker sighed, as Emma froze. "Who, Skywarp?" The other Decepticon asked patiently.

"That girl from that human movie that's coming out," Skywarp mused. "You know the one…"

"The one with Jennifer-somebody and Patrick-what's-his-name in it?" Thundercracker nodded. "Yeah, I know the one, _Dirty Dancing_…" He smirked.

"_That's_ the one!" Skywarp nodded. "I can't think of what the fem's name is, though…B-something…"

_Don't say it, don't say it!_ Emma begged silently.

A light suddenly appeared in Skywarp's red optics. "Oh, I know! _Baby_!"

Emma gaped at him. _He said it!_

"I suppose I should thank you, Decepti-creep!" A familiar voice suddenly shouted.

It was Sideswipe. He and Sunstreaker had transformed to robot mode, and were preparing to attack the Decepticons. Emma had never been so glad to see them before.

"For what, Autobot?" Skywarp wanted to know.

"Not telling," Sideswipe replied. His blue optics flashed dangerously.

"But, we _are_ gonna kick your afts!" Sunstreaker informed them.

"For calling _our_ Emma something like that!" Sideswipe attacked. "Don't you know she's an _Autobot _fem? !" The red Lambo twin grabbed onto Skywarp's arm with one hand, and his neck with the other. "Now, let her go!"

Skywarp's red optics flashed, and then he threw Emma – not very hard, but directly to the centre of the lake. She shrieked as she fell. "I CAN'T FLY! !"

SPLASH! !

Sunstreaker, who had been busy taking care of Thundercracker, turned to Skywarp, his own optics now flashing with more danger than a Hazchem site. "I already owed you one for running my paintjob, Skywarp! But now I'm gonna pay you back _double_ for that!"

O~O~O~O~O

Hound glared up at Starscream, unable to do anything because Starscream was in robot-mode and had taken a human-Hound by surprise. Now, it was clear who was at whose mercy.

Starscream, however, seemed surprised. "It _sounded_ like your voice, Autobot," The Seeker said carefully, not removing his gaze from Hound. "And it _is_ you, but…you're a human…how…" He suddenly put two and two together, as only Starscream could. "_Emma_…"

Hound didn't say anything.

"So, she has powers like this, capable of such things?" Starscream's red optics glowed and then, quite suddenly, he was standing almost nose-to-nose with Hound.

The less-aggressive mech took a few steps back, stunned. Starscream's holoform was a little bit taller than Hound's, with paler skin. His black hair hung around his face and carelessly across his amber eyes. He wore a black t-shirt and black jeans and, it suddenly struck Hound how strange it would be to see him standing next to Emma right now, dressed like that.

Starscream smirked, and leaned closer to Hound, a silver necklace with a metal star on it nearly poking him in the eye. "She must have been upset that you refused to be her guardian anymore…I wonder who she'll choose instead of you…or even if she _wants_ to be an Autobot anymore…"

Hound gulped. Starscream's words cut into him like a knife. It was true. He _had_ hurt Emma, and for what? The Decepticons' idle threats? Why, oh _why_ had he been so concerned about Emma's safety, to completely ignore her feelings? ! She probably hated him by now…

"Even now, Thundercracker and Skywarp should have succeeded in capturing the princess," Starscream smirked. "Such power deserves to be controlled by the Decepticons, no?"

Hound gasped. Emma, in the hands of the Decepticons? ! No! From everything he had seen, Emma was far too young and innocent for that! She wouldn't survive such an ordeal!

Hound turned to run, to run back to the lake and rescue his former charge, but Starscream wouldn't let him leave.

In an instant, the human mech had grabbed Hound's arm, swung him back around and punched him in the face.

Hound staggered back, feeling his cowboy hat swing back on its chord. He felt blood on his nose – Starscream had hit his mark – but, nonetheless, Hound fought back, managing to land a couple of good blows on the violent Decepticon. Their strength was incredible for their size – they'd retained all their strength from being giant robots.

"You don't _know_ her, Starscream!" Hound stood back, breathing heavily. Blood dripped from his nose, and his shoulder had been pulled back painfully. "She's not…like you…at all…"

"Can you _honestly_ say that _you_ know her any better than _I _do, Hound?" Starscream said angrily, blood flowing from a split lip, and a black eye beginning to form on the left. Oh, how he _hated_ Hound right now! "Do you know what she wants?"

Hound flinched.

Starscream smiled cruelly, knowing that he'd hit a weak nerve but, just then, something pink came barrelling at him from the darkness, and he jumped back just in time to avoid being bitten by Platinum.

She circled back, angling her body in a vertical serpentine between Starscream and Hound.

At the same time, the sound of two jets could be heard overhead, and they all three of them saw two black shapes flying through the space in the trees.

Hound's blue eyes widened. "D-did they…?"

Starscream glared at Hound one last time, before disappearing into the dark trees. "Until next time, Autobot…"

Hound let him go, and then looked at Platinum. The snake stared calmly back at him. "Is she alright?" He whispered.

The snake just flicked her tongue out a few times.

"Did they take her?" Hound was getting panicked.

Platinum lazily flapped her wings a few times.

Hound gave her a Look. "This is because I ditched her, isn't it?"

Platinum nodded once, and then flew off through the trees. Hound quickly followed her, retracing the steps he'd taken until he reached the lake.

There, he saw a massive crowd gathered, but didn't see any of his Autobot friends. He could sense that they were in their holoforms, however, by the lake-side, and hurried to find them.

As he walked he heard whispers:

"Yeah, I saw them, the Decepticons they were!"

"Yeah, they were after a girl…how did she get to be so lucky?"

"Cassie, that doesn't make her lucky!"

"Yes it does! Didn't you see? The Lamborghini Twins saved her!"

Hound's spark skipped a beat.

He found Jazz, Carly, Bumblebee and Spike standing on the sand.

"Hound, you're alright!" Spike noticed him, and then did a double-take. "Or…not…what _happened_ to you? !"

"Long story, Spike," Hound looked around. "Where's…?"

"Skywarp and Thundercracker showed up to kidnap Emma," Carly said matter-of-factly. "We were all over there across the lake at the time but, luckily, the twins managed to intervene before things got tricky. They beat those dirtbags, and they beat em' good! Unfortunately, Skywarp threw Emma into the lake."

Hound gasped.

"Right into the centre, too." Bumblebee said sagely.

"She's alright, though," Carly said quickly, seeing Hound's face. "Sideswipe went in to rescue her by himself, because _Sunstreaker_ didn't want to get his shoes wet." Over on the rocks, the blonde-haired twin in question glared across at her. "He's like that." She smiled.

"I see em' now," Jazz said calmly. Hound then noticed that he was holding Sideswipe's red hoodie.

As Sideswipe, now in his holoform, carried Emma out of the lake bridal style, a murmur ran through the crowd. Hound thought he heard Cassie gasp angrily.

Emma was shivering, the night had grown colder and an evening swim had not been ideal for her. Jazz put the jacket across Emma's chest, and she smiled thankfully up at him. "Th-thanks guys, I'm s-sorry…" She stammered.

"As long as you're okay, everything's fine." Jazz was very calm, because he had a feeling that some of the others might _not_ be after this recent turn of events.

Emma sniffled, and somehow managed to snuggle closer to Sideswipe's chest, as he carried her over to the others. They were joined by Sunstreaker, who kept exchanging glances with his brother, and then said to Emma: "So, can't wait to hear you sing – baby."

Everyone else gasped, especially Emma, and Platinum hissed angrily and got right up into Sunstreaker's face, invading his personal space.

The others laughed, except for Hound.

He was looking at Emma in Sideswipe's arms, and noticing the protective way in which the Lambo Twin held her. Hound could smell the nutmeg scent still strongly, even though Emma was soaking wet. So, he knew, without a doubt, that Sideswipe must be able to smell it even stronger. Plus, _he_ was the one who'd protected Emma and saved her.

Was Sideswipe Emma's choice?

_I'm such an idiot._ Hound thought sadly.

O~O~O~O~O

Nobody noticed the strange bird-like creature that flew overhead… 


	6. Summer Event Is Heaven On Earth? !

TRANSFORMERS

Imperial Wings

_A girl is given a second chance at life, in exchange for ending the war of Transformers. It's about as easy as it sounds. And, whilst sorting out her own life, she discovers two younglings without mothers, and the reason why their families fight._

CHAPTER SIX

Summer Event Is Heaven On Earth? !

O~O~O~O~O

Well, after that incident on the fourth of July, there was no way Emma was getting rid of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe…_especially_ Sideswipe! They had saved her from the Decepticons, and now they were to be her guardians.

When she asked Optimus why, he'd said that because there was two of them, the Decepticons would have a harder time keeping track of which Lamborghini twin she was with.

That…made perfect sense. It also meant she got to ride around in a _Lamborghini_! It didn't get much fancier than that! Even if Sunstreaker was still acting a little bit distant around her, at least he was talking to her.

Still…she wondered how Hound felt about it. Now that she knew the reasons behind his not being able to be her guardian anymore, she wasn't as upset. She felt really bad for him, and her dislike for the Decepticons on that matter was strong.

Being around the twins meant she didn't have a lot of time to dwell on the matter, though.

Emma heard knocking on her door one morning and went to open it.

The twins were on the other side of the door.

She stopped, took one look at them both, and said suspiciously: "What have you _done_?"

Both of them looked like the cat that had swallowed the canary. Their holoforms wore looks of equal guiltiness but, at the same time, they looked fairly happy about something.

Emma glanced down at her top, which was a style to be tied at the front, and realised that she hadn't tied it properly, and a bit of her bra was showing. Blushing, she quickly fixed it.

"Actually," Sideswipe said. "We need to leave now."

"And, you're coming too." Sunstreaker added, grabbing her hand.

"What, why?" Emma asked, as Sideswipe grabbed her other hand and they dragged her down the hall, followed by Platinum.

Suddenly, from somewhere inside the Ark, they heard the unmistakable yell of anger from one very angry medic.

Emma gasped. "What did you _do_? !" She repeated, looking from one twin to the other.

"We'll tell you in a minute…" Sideswipe replied, as he and Sunstreaker quickly returned to their robot forms and then transformed. "Get in," He said, opening the door for her.

"Why am _I_ suddenly involved in this?" She complained, as the seatbelt tightened around her, and both Lamborghinis sped out of the base.

"We had to get out, and you – our charge – had to come, too." Sideswipe said reasonably.

Emma sighed, although she was smiling slightly. "Okay, why? What did you do?"

"Let's just say," Sunstreaker spoke up. "That Hatchet now looks like a giant pink chicken."

Emma was silent for two seconds, before she started laughing. "I don't believe you two, sometimes!" She told them. "I'm surprised Ratchet hadn't turned you both into table lamps or something!"

"I'd make one good-looking table lamp." Sunstreaker mused.

Emma just rolled her eyes. "So…where are we going? I haven't had breakfast yet. I'd like breakfast now, if you _don't_ mind."

"Then that's what we'll do." Sideswipe declared.

O~O~O~O~O

Back at the base, Ratchet was quivering with anger, his robot body dripping with glue, pink paint and white feathers.

Optimus was standing calmly, but Aqua of course was giggling. She thought the twins were simply the best, and recognized their handiwork instantly.

"When I get my hands on those two…" Ratchet muttered, just as Hound walked in.

"Has anyone seen – " He broke off suddenly upon seeing Ratchet.

"Laugh," Ratchet warned him. "And you get the same thing the twins are gonna get."

Hound wisely chose not to test this. Instead, he turned to Optimus. "Prime, have you seen Emma?"

Optimus shook his head, but Aqua nodded. "I did! Sunny and Sides took her with them when they made their getaway!"

"Of course." Optimus sighed. "Well, as long as they're with her, she should be fine." He noticed the look on Hound's face. "Hound? What is it?"

Hound didn't answer.

Aqua, however, did. "He's jealous!" She chirped. "He wishes he were still Emma's guardian because he _really_ likes her, but he can't be because of the Decepticons!"

Optimus and Ratchet glanced at the youngling, and then at Hound, who looked decidedly uncomfortable. If he'd been in his holoform, he would've been blushing.

Ratchet rolled his optics, and muttered something about 'summer fever', as Hound hurried out of the room.

Optimus looked at his daughter.

She looked back up at him. "What?" She blinked. "It's true…"

"I'm…sure it is." Optimus nodded.

O~O~O~O~O

On a decidedly different base altogether, Megatron was glaring at Starscream, who looked even more uncomfortable than Hound had.

"And when," The Decepticon leader spoke in a dangerously low voice. "Were you planning on telling me about this human?"

Starscream cast a swift look of pure venom at Soundwave, who was unaffected, before turning back to Megatron and saying: "My liege, of course I had not intended to keep such important information a secret from you for terribly long. I…simply wished to gather more information on the matter first, perhaps even capture the girl before things got out of hand…"

"As they now clearly _have_." Megatron finished. He could see straight through Starscream's lies, although he chose not to act upon it. Better to let the second-in-command believe he was safe, and give him a false sense of security. That was Megatron's style. He turned to Soundwave. "Go and inform Thrust, Dirge and Ramjet that their new assignment is to bring this human girl to me. Make sure they are properly briefed."

Soundwave nodded, and left.

Starscream watched him go, strong feelings of dislike welling up in his body. Why had Soundwave had to send that annoying bird of his out anyway? On top of all that, Starscream had failed to capture the human with extraordinary power, and it was getting to him.

Still, he had one advantage here. He had a holoform. He could turn into a human. And, while the idea of being like that certainly freaked him out a little bit, he also knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that it was going to be useful. Also, Megatron didn't know about it, so that was a bonus.

As Starscream walked through the halls of the Nemesis, his processor was ticking. He knew there must be _some_ reason Megatron wanted this girl so badly. He planned to figure it out…and keep her from Megatron.

That was Starscream's style.

O~O~O~O~O

Megatron, of course, knew what Starscream was capable of all too well. He didn't trust the Seeker in the slightest, and knew there must be something _more_ his would-be-second-in-command was hiding.

He knew how to find out, as well. After all, that's why Soundwave was _third_-in-command.

O~O~O~O~O

Carly and Spike saw Emma, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe from across the road, and the blonde-haired girl began waving wildly.

"Hey!" She called. "Over here!"

The five of them met up on Carly and Spike's side of the road.

"Did you see this?" Carly asked Emma, thrusting a piece of paper at her.

"What is it?" Emma asked, looking at it. The twins looked over her shoulders. "Fun In The Sun Beach Party," She read out. "Come one, come all." Emma glanced up at Carly. "Uh…what about it?"

Carly jabbed her finger at a spot on the flyer.

Emma looked. "Karaoke contest…" Her eyes widened. "No, no, _no_!" She exclaimed.

Carly grinned. "Yes, yes, yes," She teased. "It doesn't matter _who_ called you _baby_, you _still_ have to sing."

"When I get my hands on Skywarp…" Emma muttered. "Do I have a choice in this?" She asked.

"No." Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Carly and Spike said in unison.

Emma sighed. "But…I haven't got anything to wear…and, it's tomorrow…" She and Carly exchanged a glance.

"Shopping spree!" They sang in unison.

"Wow," Sideswipe said, shaking his head. "If you sing as good as you did just then, we'll have a chance at winning…" He looked at the flyer.

"_A free week at a luxury beach house in Florida_? !" Sunstreaker exclaimed. "Emma! You _have_ to win that contest! I want to go!"

Emma gulped, blushing. "O…okay…" She agreed. "I'll enter…though I feel a strong bout of laryngitis coming on…"

"Too bad." Carly replied.

"Oh." Emma pouted.

The guys laughed.

O~O~O~O~O

"Did you hear?" Bluestreak said to Hound that evening. "Emma's entering a karaoke contest tomorrow to win a week in Florida! The twins, Carly and Spike are all going along to support her, oh of course since it was Carly's idea, but there's going to be a lot of competition apparently, but those guys seem confident that Emma will win! Emma herself's not too confident, because she doesn't want to sing in front of all those people but _I_ think she'll be okay, as long as she doesn't panic! Of course, she's prone to panicking when things go wrong, but nothing will go wrong because her guardians are there!"

Hound, who'd stopped listening after Bluestreak mentioned the karaoke contest, was now jolted back into reality. "I see." Was all he said, before walking down the hall towards the rec room. Before entering he assumed his holoform.

He entered the room, to find that Emma was the only one in there. She was watching the big-screen TV, and was watching one of the many satellite channels. The show was some sort of Japanese anime, and the ending credits were playing.

Hound listened closely for a second, before he realised that Emma was _singing_.

"_Ki ni kuwanai aitsu _

_Ijiwaru wo shichau no wa "suki da kara" yo _

_Just Love! Ki ni naru kara itsu mo _

_Muri na koto itchau no _

_Chotto go-me-n…"_

Hound listened, entranced, before Platinum suddenly stuck her head over the back of the couch, and glared at him.

Emma jumped, and turned around quickly. "Oh…Hound…" She was blushing, finally having been caught out singing. She looked down. "Uh…"

"Emma…" Hound said, also not looking at her.

"Yes?" She asked quickly.

"Tomorrow…at the karaoke contest…" Hound said quietly. "I'll…see you up on stage, okay?"

"You're coming?" She asked; her heart pounding.

"Yes."

She paused, and then said: "Thank you…I guess…it won't be so bad…"

Hound looked up quickly. "Emma, you'll be fine! More than fine, you'll probably win!"

She was startled. "M-me? ! Really?"

He nodded. "You'll see…don't worry about anything, just sing like you did then…"

She blushed even more. "You weren't supposed to hear that, Hound."

He grinned. "It's a free country."

She grinned, too. "Who taught you that?"

"The twins."

"I'll bet they did."

They smiled at each other.

O~O~O~O~O

The next day, however, Emma was anything _but_ smiling, although she tried not to show how nervous she was. She had absolutely point-blank _refused_ to wear a bikini, saying something about it being too risqué in this day and age, even though Carly was wearing a white one. Emma herself instead settled for a modest light pink one with a light blue trim, and a white sarong that she wouldn't take off.

When the twins saw her, however, they were very impressed, and she was blushing like mad as they all walked across the beach to where Carly, Spike, Bumblebee, Bluestreak and Hound were waiting for them. Why Bumblebee and Bluestreak had come, Emma knew not. Still, they all looked pretty cool in their board shorts (all in appropriate colours, of course).

Spike already had a list of things to do before two (when the karaoke contest was). Swimming, morning tea, sand castle contest, more swimming, lunch, then free time.

_I feel like I'm on camp again…_ Emma thought, looking up at the clear blue sky. _It feels like that was a whole other life-time ago…I wonder what everyone's doing right now…_

"Come on, Emma," Carly grabbed her hand. "Let's go swimming."

Emma looked out at the sparkling blue waves, and imagined how cold it would be. "No." She shook her head.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe exchanged a glance, which Emma saw. She immediately began taking steps backwards. They began walking towards her.

"Don't you two _dare_." Emma hissed, looking at Platinum. "Tell them." She said.

Platinum looked at her, and then flew over to where Carly was, as if to say: You're on your own.

"Don't leave me!" Emma wailed, just as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe pounced. "Noooo! !" Emma protested, as the twins carried her to the water. "I don't wanna go swimming! I have a note!"

"One…" Sunstreaker counted, as people watching smiled at their antics.

"Two…" Sideswipe added.

"Three!" They both said, and tossed Emma into the semi-deep water.

Her sarong flew off and Sideswipe caught it, as Emma herself landed in the water with a splash. She came up spluttering, and glaring at the twins, hands on hips.

"You two are so obnoxious!" She exclaimed.

The twins grinned back at her. "Just one of the services we provide for free, baby." They responded in unison.

O~O~O~O~O

From his spot by a building close to the beach, Starscream saw the whole thing. His red eyes narrowed as he watched the twins mess around in the water with Emma, although he smirked a little when Sunstreaker pretended to see a shark, and everyone stampeded out of the water except for those three. Humans were so easily panicked, he thought. You'd think they'd be _used_ to a little bit of danger by now.

Sighing, Starscream got up but, when he noticed Hound on the beach as well, he stopped. Maybe it would be better if Hound _didn't_ see him. The Autobot tracker was bound to recognize him, after all, and Starscream wanted to do this incognito.

O~O~O~O~O

Emma walked away from the sandcastle, which Sunstreaker had designed to look like a palace from ancient Japan (pillars and everything), and Carly joined her. They decided to get ice-creams, cookies and cream for Emma and mint-choc-chip for Carly.

As they stood around there, eating their treats, a group of girls approached them. There were five of them, all of them tall and slender. Two of them were wearing bikinis. Three were blonde.

Emma and Carly exchanged a glance.

"So," The girl in the middle spoke, her cobalt blue eyes piercing into the two other girls. She had the skimpiest bikini of all, which was very out-there for the year 1987, and long blonde hair. "We saw you two over there with the Autobots…care to introduce us?" She wanted to know. "It'd be good to get to know them, _especially_ since they seem to have human forms, now…"

"Uh…" Emma felt her throat go dry. She wished she hadn't finished her ice-cream so soon. "You see…" This was a scene straight out of a movie.

"Who would we be introducing, anyway?" Carly wanted to know, finishing _her_ ice-cream and crossing her arms.

The middle-girl's blue eyes flashed, but then she put on a fake smile and said: "I'm Priscilla. These are my girls – Kerri, Miranda, Anastasia and Cokie. We've always been interested in the Autobots – they're really cool…"

Emma gulped. This was _exactly_ the kind of thing she wasn't good at but, at the same time, her insides were curling in anticipation.

Carly's were too, apparently. "I think they're busy right now." She said evenly.

The seven girls looked over to where the Autobots and Spike were. At that moment, a little kid ran over and purposely demolished Sunstreaker's dynasty palace.

"Noooooooo! !" The blonde wailed, falling dramatically, falling to his knees in a dramatic show of despair.

Sideswipe face-palmed, and then glanced over at the girls. He saw Emma and Carly looking, and waved to them.

"Kyaa, did you see that? !" Kerri exclaimed. "Sunstreaker _waved_ at me!"

"Uh, that's Sideswipe," Carly stated. "And I think he was waving at _Emma_. He's her guardian, after all."

Emma cringed. _Why_ did Carly say that?

As she'd expected, the five strangers all glared at her. Anastasia spoke up. "Why would he be _her_ guardian, anyway?"

"Because she lives with them." Carly said calmly.

"WHAT? !" The give girls cried in unison, so loudly that half the beach looked at them.

"How did _she_ get to be so lucky? !" Cokie demanded.

"Believe me, I'm anything _but_ lucky…" Emma muttered, thinking of the Decepticons.

Priscilla stepped forward, towering over her. "I hate people," She said coldly. "Who _fail_ to see how lucky they are, especially in _this_ situation…" She glanced over at the boys again, before turning back to Emma.

"And I," Emma said, her heart pounding. "Hate people who think they _know_ everything about other people's lives!" This reminded her of her fights with her sister!

Priscilla looked outraged. "Excuse me? !" She exclaimed. "You seem to believe you're better than everybody else, going places with the Autobots," (Another glance at them). "But, really, you're just a desperate nobody who could _never_ get their attention if she didn't bewitch them!"

Emma and Carly stared at her for a moment.

"Bewitched?" Carly asked Emma. "You mean, like witches? She thinks you're a witch?"

"The one that flies in the sky?" Emma wondered. "_Mahari-ku-maharita-yanabara-yanyanayan_?" She sang.

She and Carly both laughed.

Priscilla's eyes were flashing dangerously by now. "Oh, you fancy yourself a singer, do you?" She asked. "Well, then, that settles it – Miranda will see you at the karaoke contest!"

"What? !" Emma and Carly cried in unison.

Priscilla nodded. "Winner gets to kiss one of the Autobots."

"Uh…shouldn't _they_ be the ones to decide that?" Craly pointed out.

"Quiet, you." Priscilla snapped. "Anyway, it doesn't affect you – just us three," She indicated herself, Miranda and Emma. "And the Autobot _I_ decide to kiss…"

_This is…extremely hilarious, really…_ Emma thought. _I actually can't wait to see what happens…_

"Okay, fine by me!" Emma declared suddenly.

_Whoa!_ Carly thought, impressed. _Emma got serious!_

"Bring it on!" Emma told Miranda and Priscilla.

"Fine!" The two blondes snapped.

O~O~O~O~O

From his vantage-point, Starscream watched the confrontation between Emma and the five other human girls. He could hear what was going on, and it amused him. Humans could be so argumentative at times, especially human fems. And, it appeared, Emma was going to be doing some singing. Well, _this_ Starscream could certainly look forward too. He'd heard humans sing before, and they weren't half bad. If Emma could sing, he might even enjoy it.

O~O~O~O~O

"I'm nervous," Emma whispered to Carly.

"Don't be." Carly whispered back.

"But people are going to be _looking_ at me!" Emma hissed.

Platinum uncoiled from around her neck and transferred herself to Carly's shoulders.

"Just remember what's at stake here…" Carly muttered, glancing darkly at Miranda, who was about to go up onstage.

Emma groaned. "How could I forget?"

They listened to Miranda sing.

"What…was that?" Carly asked at the end of it.

"Well, she held _most_ of the notes." Emma said diplomatically.

"Yeah, everything from C to D." Carly said sarcastically, although they clapped along with everybody else. "Okay, go on, you're next." She gave Emma a little push towards the stage.

"Do I ha–?"

"Yes! Now go!"

"Okay, okay, I'm going…" Emma said, her voice and hands shaking. She walked numbly towards the stage.

Down on the sand, Carly joined her boyfriend and the Autobots, who were watching Emma's progress.

"She looks a bit white." Bluestreak noted. "Do you think she's nervous? I think she's nervous? Is she going to sing now, do you think she'll be alright?"

"Yes!" Carly cried in frustration.

"I hope so…" Hound murmured, glancing all around. That was when he noticed a black-haired man standing at the edge of the crowd, watching the happenings. Something about him was familiar…and then he turned to Hound, who caught sight of the man's red eyes. _Starscream!_

Hound didn't even bother to tell the others where he was going, he just moved off into the crowd, like a shark heading towards its prey. Starscream, like any fish spotted by a shark, turned and ran. Hound ran after him.

Up onstage, Emma saw Hound leave, just as she was about to start singing. She was so startled, that she missed the entire first chorus, and everybody who knew the song knew.

Carly sighed. "Not a good time to leave, Hound…" She muttered as, up onstage, Emma attempted to regain her composure.

Priscilla and her posse were sniggering.

Emma took a deep breath, her hands were wrapped so tightly around the microphone and were shaking. She had been the exact same when singing a solo for choir one time, in front of the whole school. _Why did I ever agree to this?_ She thought, and then she caught sight of Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, their bright blue eyes looking right at her.

She gulped.

"_When the night falls down  
>I wait for you<br>And you come around  
>And the world's alive<br>With the sound of kids  
>On the street outside…"<em>

With a rush, Emma realized that Carly and Hound had both been right – she _was_ a good singer! If only her voice would stop shaking, then it would be better!

"_When you walk into the room  
>You pull me close and we start to move<br>And we're spinning with the stars above  
>And you lift me up in a wave of love...<em>

_Ooh, baby, do you know what that's worth ?  
>Ooh heaven is a place on earth<br>They say in heaven love comes first  
>We'll make heaven a place on earth<br>Ooh heaven is a place on earth_

_When I feel alone  
>I reach for you<br>And you bring me home  
>When I'm lost at sea<br>I hear your voice  
>And it carries me<em>

_In this world we're just beginning  
>To understand the miracle of living<br>Baby I was afraid before  
>But I'm not afraid anymore…"<em>

O~O~O~O~O

Starscream turned around, glaring angrily at Hound. Both of them were standing halfway down the beach, away from the stage. The Seeker had finally had enough, and he knew Hound would be able to find him no matter _where_ he went. He wasn't an Autobot tracker for nothing.

"You've obviously forgotten what happened the _last_ time we met, Autobot," Starscream said darkly, his red eyes flashing.

Hound met his gaze steadily, but the Autobot's hands were now shaking. "I haven't forgotten, Starscream," He replied. "That's why I want you to leave this place."

Starscream laughed hollowly. "I am a Decepticon, and I'll go where I choose," He stated. "But tell me, Hound, what do you find so special about that girl? Why is it that you Autobots guard her so fiercely?"

Hound gulped.

Starscream smirked. "Oh, I've noticed the way you all treat her. The way you all look at her. It's as if she has…a spark…" He mused thoughtfully.

"You'll stay away from her, Decepticon," Hound said quietly, anger quivering in his voice. "You'll never be able to take her…"

Starscream looked at him, and seemed about to answer when, just then, three highly familiar jets streaked overhead, heading towards the crowd.

"Frag!" Hound and Starscream exclaimed in unison, and then exchanged a startled glance that turned to a glare.

Neither of them trusted each other. Then again, neither of them trusted the Coneheads, either!

O~O~O~O~O

Emma, standing up onstage, was about as attuned to jet engines meaning trouble as her Autobot friends were. That's why, when she saw the three jets heading towards her, she nearly freaked out.

Luckily, the responses from the four Autobot mechs watching her was a little more cultured.

Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Bluestreak and Bumblebee all transformed back to their robot modes as one, with the first three intercepting the jets even before they'd transformed. Bumblebee, with Spike and Carly, raced to where Emma was, seemingly frozen to the stage.

"Come on, we've gotta go!" Carly said, dragging Emma off the stage.

"Wait, where's Hound? !" Emma cried.

_Always Hound, isn't it?_ Bumblebee thought, just as a stray laser beam came flying towards them.

"Look out!" Spike cried, as people were screaming and running in all directions to escape the conflict.

Emma suddenly noticed something horrible – a little girl, about three, was standing in a frozen position that was familiar to Emma, and she was right in the path of the laser beam! Emma ran forwards, her feet carrying her across the sand a little faster than she realized she was going. She reached the girl just as the laser beam did, and pushed her out of the way, taking the full hit to her chest.

"EMMA!" Carly screamed, as her new friend flew some five feet away, landing roughly on the sand.

The blue and yellow Conehead known as Dirge saw his chance, and landed in front of her. She stared back up at him, bloodied scratches on her arms and chest, fear in her eyes. Fear, of course, was just what Dirge inspired.

Further laser fire prevented Carly, Spike and Bumblebee from approaching her, but Platinum was already there.

In an instant, the Pythormer had transformed to her larger mode, making an impressive sight as she spread her huge pink wings and got between Emma and Dirge.

Dirge leapt back, startled.

Just then, the blue disc on Emma's chest began glowing, emitting some sort of strange light – and power.

Up in the air, Sideswipe and Ramjet stopped fighting, and stared down in shock.

Brother, you reading that? Sideswipe asked his brother through their comlink.

Yeah, this is what Prime was talking about! Sunstreaker replied, as he and Bluestreak tackled Thrust to the ground.

Platinum had lunged at Dirge, attempting to bite the Decepticon with her poisoned fangs, and he was forced to get back if he wanted to stay alive.

Starscream, however, saw his chance. He seemed to be drawn in by the power, which was glowing faintly on Emma's chest. The blue disc – the entry point of the data transfer from Primus – seemed to have born the brunt of the laser fire, and protected her from harm.

_Now_ Starscream understood why Megatron wanted to this girl so badly. The energy readings were off the scale.

Starscream transformed as he ran and Hound, realizing what was happening, hurried to follow suit.

Emma's hazel eyes widened in complete horror as she saw the Seeker heading towards her. She stood up quickly and felt a strange power in her legs. That power was what allowed her to jump up, like a ninja. She arced her body and used her hands to push herself up from Starscream's head, flipping around and landing safely on Hound's shoulder.

"Omigosh!" She gasped.

Hound could feel her spark beating a mile and hour as the blue glow dulled and vanished, and she was breathing heavily. His _own_ spark was pounding, although that _might_ have been because Emma was clinging to him, her body glistening with sweat after her amazing feat. He had to remind himself that Decepticons were attacking.

Ramjet, at that moment, chose to live up to his name, and his victim was Sideswipe. The black, white and red Autobot fell back to the sand. The Decepticons were fighting fierce, Hound realized.

The same though seemed to have occurred to Emma who, unbeknownst to everyone else, decided to go all Pokemon Trainer. "Platinum!" She commanded, her voice ringing through the heavy breathing. She stood up on Hound's shoulder and pointed to Ramjet. "Use Tackle attack!"

"Huh?" Everyone looked at her, and then watched as Platinum used Ramjet's own tactic against him.

"Great, now use Poison Fang attack!" Emma was actually really enjoying herself, and so was disappointed when the three Coneheads retreated.

Starscream too, it seemed, had vanished.

"We did it!" Emma exclaimed, throwing her arms around the side of his helmet and hugging him as best she could. "Yay!"

Hound's spark was now beating so quickly, he could feel it in his chest plate.

"Hey!" Sunstreaker complained, as he helped Sideswipe up. "Hound didn't even _do_ anything!"

"Well…" Emma hesitated, and then smiled. "That's okay! We still won! And I discovered I _can_ fly! I was awesome!" She pumped a fist into the air.

Hound couldn't have put it better himself.

O~O~O~O~O

What WAS that? ! Dirge exclaimed, as the three Coneheads hightailed it back to the Nemesis.

I dunno! I've NEVER seen anything like it before in my life! Thrust replied.

Megatron has to be told. Ramjet decided, feeling a little bit sore after that snake had rammed into him. Ramjet wasn't used to being on the receiving end of his own type of attacks. That girl and her Pythormer could be trouble.

What I don't get, Thrust said. Is what _Starscream_ was doing there? Where did he come from? And, was it just me, or were the Autobots _humans_ right before they attacked us?

Who knows? Dirge replied.

Megatron will be told. Ramjet stated.


	7. Emma The Flame Of Love Girl? !

TRANSFORMERS

Imperial Wings

_A girl is given a second chance at life, in exchange for ending the war of Transformers. It's about as easy as it sounds. And, whilst sorting out her own life, she discovers two younglings without mothers, and the reason why their families fight._

CHAPTER SEVEN

Emma The Flame Of Love Girl? !

O~O~O~O~O

It was early the next morning when Carly's phone began ringing. Sleepily, the blonde picked up and answered. "H-hello?" She yawned. She paused for a second, before saying: "Yes, this is she." Her green eyes widened. "W-what? Oh! Oh…oh my Lord! You're kidding, right? Okay, yeah, I'll tell her!" She hung up in a slight daze, staring at the phone. Then she hurried to get dressed.

O~O~O~O~O

"No."

"Please?"

"I said no."

"And I said please."

"And I don't care! What part of _no_ don't you understand?"

"The part where it doesn't mean yes."

Emma turned around and threw her hands up into the air, frustrated. It didn't help when she saw the smile on Sideswipe's face; it was knowing and pleading. It was hard to say no when he was looking at her like that, but she was going to be firm. She was going to stand her ground.

"I am _not_ going to sing for you, Sideswipe, so forget it!" Emma informed him, trying to not to look at his holoform's eyes. They were bright blue, like the ocean and the sky. _Be firm, be firm, be firm…_ She thought, walking down the hall and into a room of the Ark, where she found Optimus, Jazz, Prowl, Bumblebee, Ratchet and Sunstreaker grouped around Telatran-1.

Sunstreaker turned around when they entered, locked gazes with Sideswipe (who had returned to robot form) for a brief instant, and then looked at Emma. "Emma!" He said brightly.

Emma stopped. "_What_?" She asked, suspicious.

"Sing for us." Sunstreaker said, grinning.

O~O~O~O~O

On the Nemesis, Megatron was seeing red. He was trying – and failing – to keep his cool, and it was Starscream who was suffering for it.

The other Decepticons in the room could only watch and, when it was finish, Thundercracker hauled Starscream to his feet.

Megatron took a moment to regain his composure, before turning to Soundwave. "Get every shred of information from him, do you understand?"

"Yes, Megatron." Soundwave replied in his monotone.

"In the meantime," Megatron said, more to himself than to anyone else. "I'll send out the Stunticons to..."

Starscream's head shot up, and the other Decepticons watching him noticed a flash of fear across his red optics. "W-wait, Megatron!" There was a slight note of panic in the Air Commander's voice, which he attempted to hide as he went on with: "The Stunticons…th-they're psychotic! They could do more damage than good!" _And destroy _my_ source of power and means of taking you out, Megatron!_ He added silently, blocking his mind from Soundwave just in time.

Megatron turned around, and Starscream quickly rearranged his face into a look of indifference.

Megatron's own red optics pierced into Starscream's, as if they were holding a silent conversation. Then, Megatron turned to Soundwave. "Interrogate him." He ordered coldly, before walking out of the room.

Starscream gave Soundwave a look of intense dislike. _Just try it, underling!_ He thought.

Soundwave, of course, didn't reply.

O~O~O~O~O

"NOOOOO! ! !"

Carly, who was climbing out of her car, looked towards the Autobots' base in surprise. "Was that Emma?" She wondered, walking quickly into the base. Further investigation led Carly to the communications room, where she found Jazz, Prowl and Bumblebee all physically trying to restrain both Emma and Platinum from attacking Sunstreaker.

The blonde blinked. "O…kay…" She said slowly. "Did I miss something?"

"Carly!" Sideswipe exclaimed when he saw her. "Isn't it your birthday or something today?" He turned to Emma, who was glaring at a decidedly unaffected Prowl. "Emma, you should sing happy birthday to Carly!"

"Gu-ys!" Emma complained, finally giving in to Prowl and stopping her attempted assault.

Finally, Optimus became involved. He looked at the twins, and said: "Alright you two, _enough_." In the same tone of voice he used when talking to his daughter. The twins shut up.

Emma gave Optimus a grateful look.

Prowl put Emma down, and she walked across to Carly. "Hi." She said, by way of greeting.

"Hello, winner." Carly replied, smiling.

"Winner?" Emma cocked her head to one side. "And…what exactly did I win?"

"I got a phone-call this morning, since I was listed in the phonebook and you weren't. Remember that karaoke contest…" Carly's smile grew.

So did Emma's. "You mean…?"

Carly nodded.

Both the girls shrieked: "WE'RE GOING TO FLORIDA! !"

"The judges thought you were the best singer in the contest!" Carly exclaimed. "I'm not joking!"

"I can't believe it!" Emma cried, happily.

"They seem happy." Optimus said to Ratchet.

"Do _all_ humans get this loud when they're happy?" Ratchet complained.

"I think we deafened Ratchet. Wait, how many was the trip for?" Emma asked, as she and Carly hugged.

"Thirteen," Carly stepped back to look at Emma. "I mean, of course I don't have to…"

"Of course you have to come!" Emma exclaimed, the smile now permanently fixed on her face. "You and Spike both get to come!"

Carly looked thrilled. "Okay, but can I ask why?"

"_Mahari-ku-maharita-yanbara-yanyanayan_…" Emma sang softly, and both girls laughed, remembering Priscilla.

"Sing louder." Sunstreaker urged her.

"No." Emma replied.

"Aww, come on, Ems…" Sideswipe wheedled.

"No," Emma shook her head. "And _don't_ call me Ems."

Just then, Hound came into the room. He looked around, and then said to Emma: "Good news?"

Emma nodded, grinning. "I won that karaoke contest! I _never_ win anything, and now I did!"

Hound looked thrilled. "That's terrific, Ems!" He told her.

"I know!" She replied.

They smiled at each other.

"Hey, how come _Hound_ gets to call you Ems?" Sideswipe wanted to know.

"Because…" Emma blushed, wanting to say that Hound had earned it, but not wanting to sound conceited.

Luckily, or maybe _not_ so luckily, Carly suddenly asked: "Hey…you have to take ten others along with you…who's it gonna be?"

It suddenly seemed that everyone was looking at Emma, who seemed to shrink. "Umm…" She mumbled. "Oh…you know…"

"No," Sunstreaker said. "We _don't_ know…"

Emma looked at Carly. "How long until I get to go?"

"The head of the planning committee wants you to come to this address today." Carly replied, handing her a piece of paper. "But he said sometime later this month?"

Emma nodded. "Can we take your car?" She asked, glancing back at the Autobots.

"Sure." Carly understood.

Optimus cleared his throat. "Uh, Emma…"

Emma turned to him. "The Decepticons won't be trying anything for awhile, not after what happened at the beach, I'm sure."

"Or maybe they _will_, because of what happened," Ratchet replied, giving her a Look.

She looked down. "Well, at any rate, they probably won't be expecting me to _not_ be with an Autobot," She reasoned. "And, I'll have Platinum with me…everyone's scared of her, you know, even Skywarp and Dirge."

The Pythormer arced her neck in agreement, playing a few bars of _The Boatman Song_ from the jewel on her forehead.

"Hmm…true…" Optimus agreed.

"So, you'll let me do this on my own?" Emma asked hopefully.

Optimus was a little startled. Aqua often said that to him, right before she did something extreme. Like volcano-surfing…

Emma seized the opportunity, and grinned. "Thanks, Optimus!" She said, grabbing Carly's hand and dragging the blonde out of the room. "Bye, guys! Oh, bye Aqua!" She added, as they passed the little youngling who was on her way in.

"Bye-bye!" Aqua called after them.

"Wait…" Optimus raised one hand, but the two girls were already gone. He sighed.

"Parenthood can be hard." Ratchet said, diplomatically, causing Aqua to blink her optics in confusion.

"Yeah, so can guardianship." Sideswipe informed them. "I don't trust that the Decepticons will leave her alone, not after they saw that power at the beach."

"I agree with Sideswipe," Optimus nodded. He turned to Hound, Jazz and Prowl. "Follow them, and make sure they don't get into any trouble. _Don't_ let them see you." The three chosen ones nodded.

"Hey, how come _they_ get to go?" Sunstreaker complained.

"Because _they_," Optimus replied. "Don't seem to be the ones to rile Emma up all the time. You two _do_." He glanced at Sideswipe.

"Only because they're in love with her!" Aqua chirped.

Sideswipe and Sunstreaker looked startled, but couldn't say anything with Optimus Prime in the room.

Aqua grinned mischievously.

"Aqua, _what_ have I told you about secrets?" Ratchet sighed.

Hound looked troubled.

O~O~O~O~O

"I think the twins like you, Emma." Carly said, as they drove through the streets of the city .

Emma blushed. "R-really?" She gulped. "Why?"

Carly laughed. "It's obvious, isn't it? They're always following you around, and they get jealous when you pay too much attention to other Autobots!"

Emma blinked a few times. She had suspected _something_ was up, but _hadn't_ thought it would be something like that. "But," She mumbled. "I'm not good enough…"

Carly slammed on the brakes, as they had just approached a red light that had once been amber. She looked at Emma. "I don't think that's true, Emma." She said seriously. "I think you underrate yourself."

"But…I'm a human…" She muttered.

Carly shook her head. "That doesn't seem to bother them."

"Well, it bothers _me_ sometimes…" Emma replied, a little darkly.

"I know," Carly was sympathetic. "Unfortunately, we can't change what we are. We should just be thankful there are those that accept us for who we are."

"And then, there are those that _don't_." Emma told her, thinking of the Decepticons.

Carly nodded. "That too."

O~O~O~O~O

The head of the planning committee, who was tall, blonde, had worked in Hollywood, he said, which was why neither Emma nor Carly were surprised when he introduced them to a music producer.

"From what I've heard from Jace, with your voice, we could stand to make a _lot_ of people happy with music, m'dear." The music producer told her. He wore a nametag that read GREG.

Emma sat frozen in her chair, feeling like everything was happening at once. She wished Platinum was there, but the snake had stayed outside, to avoid attracting too much attention.

"You mean," Carly said quietly. "That this karaoke contest was just a way to scout out new talent to promote?"

Jace and Greg laughed. "Well, I must admit, it _does_ seem that way, doesn't it?" Greg smiled, but it did not extend to his eyes. "Now, Emma, do we have a deal?"

Emma gulped. "Uh…I need to…think about it…discuss it with my…uh…to discuss it…" She looked at Carly for help.

"We'll let you know." Carly stated firmly.

"Hmm…" Jace looked at the two girls. "Do you have any ID on you?" He asked Emma suddenly.

Emma turned the colour of her favourite dress. "Umm…" She muttered. "I…uh…" She suddenly looked down. Platinum was back and urgently nudging her ankle. In the snake's mouth was a driver's licence. Emma pretended to cough, hunching over. She took the card and straightened up, smiling. She handed it to Jace.

She sat back, feeling relieved. She should have known someone was looking out for her, but she wished she knew _how_. As Prowl would say, it wasn't logical…or _was_ it?

Suddenly, Emma wondered if Prowl was involved…

"Where can I reach you?" Jace wanted to know.

"Uh…at…Carly's…" Emma invented.

"Very well…I'll mail you the details and tickets…" Jace replied, as they all stood up and shook hands.

"I look forward to your answer, Emma." Greg said.

_No, you don't._ Emma thought, but she kept that to herself. He'd find out, soon.

As the two girls walked out of the tall building, Emma looked around, and thought she saw a police car around the corner. She decided she must've imagined it, as she and Carly headed back to her car. They walked across the street, but just then Emma dropped her driver's licence on the road, and stooped to pick it up.

Suddenly, she heard a car's engine, and looked up, startled, to see a black car slam on the brakes right in front of her, stopping so close to her that the front part of its square nose was touching her thighs.

She was frozen for a second, before looking at the driver, who was looking right back at her, a strange smile on his face despite the fact that he'd almost killed her. He had black hair that was partially shaved (a number one, or something, Emma couldn't recall what it was called) and sunglasses. He was impatiently revving the engine of his Ferrari 308 GTB, as Emma blinked at him.

Then, Platinum hissed softly.

Carly came running back, and grabbed Emma's wrist. "Come on, you're blocking traffic!" She scolded lightly, and dragged Emma off the road, so that the black car could continue.

"Carly," Emma gasped, stopping. "I think that was a Decepticon!"

Carly paled slightly. "Are you sure?" She wanted to know.

From halfway up the road, there was the sound of shifting metal.

"Absolutely." Emma said firmly, turning around to see the Transformer. "Oh, great, it's Wildrider…"

"Found ya!" Wildrider had a Texan accent and, despite his blue optics, Emma knew him to be evil and insane. "Aren't I lucky? !"

"Optimus is gonna say 'I told you so'!" Emma said, as she and Carly turned and ran, dodging screaming pedestrians and heading towards an alleyway, so as to escape the crazy Decepticon.

"You're not getting away!" Wildrider called out gleefully. They could hear him coming. "I'm gonna getcha!"

"Why send the insane one?" Carly wanted to know, as the two girls came out on another street, and were nearly run down by a white and red Lamborghini Countach, which swerved and transformed into Breakdown.

"Don't look at me, just let us capture you or Megatron will kill us." Breakdown said.

"And the paranoid one." Emma looked desperately at Platinum. "Can't you transform?" The snake shook her head. "You can't? Why not? !"

"Ah, Emma," Carly grabbed her arm and pointed down the street, where a yellow Tyrrell P34 Formula One car was driving towards them. "Less talk, more–"

"RUN! !" Emma yelled, as Drag Strip transformed.

The two girls ran, somehow managing to dodge Breakdown, who called to Drag Strip: "First one to catch the girl wins!"

"Which girl?" Drag Strip asked eagerly.

"The pretty little white one!" Wildrider had joined them.

"They're going to get away." Dead End had also shown up, and he pointed to the two girls, who were halfway down the street by now.

"No, they're not!"

Emma gasped and yanked Carly back, as a black and grey Kenworth K1000 Aerodyne sleeper tractor-trailer swerved in front of them, before transforming into Motormaster.

Emma threw her arm across Carly instinctively. "We're doomed, this is not good…" She muttered, as the two of them stared up at the cold and cruel Decepticon in fear. She began pushing Carly back, not wanting her friend to be subjected to Motormaster's cruelty.

The Stunticons had surrounded them by that stage.

"Aww, does this mean Motormaster won?" Drag Strip complained.

The mech in question shot him a cold Look. "We're to bring the girl in white back to Megatron," He stated coldly. "Those are our orders, or did you _forget_?"

Drag Strip shook his head.

Motormaster looked down at Emma. "Now…"

"You have to let Carly go!" Emma said, her voice ringing. "She has nothing to do with this!" Her voice was shaking.

Motormaster's red optics bored into her hazel eyes. "Fine." He said.

Emma gulped. Now what?

Suddenly, there was the sound of car engines.

Emma and Carly turned to look, just as Hound, Jazz and Prowl transformed.

"Get out the way, get out the way, get out the way!" Carly exclaimed, grabbing Emma's wrist and dragging her out of the way.

The three Autobots slammed into three of the five Decepticons including Motormaster, tackling them to the ground which shook.

"GO! !" Hound called to the two girls, before punching Breakdown in the face.

They didn't need telling twice – but, first, they had to get past Wildrider and Drag Strip.

Drag Strip suddenly lunged forwards, and grabbed Emma in his hand.

"_Emma_!" Carly screamed. The Autobots heard her, but couldn't do anything to help, as they were busy fighting off the other Stunticons.

"I won!" Drag Strip smirked. "What do I get as a reward?"

Emma was scared, but seething. "_This_!" She cried, just as Platinum transformed into her larger self and lunged at Drag Strip's face.

The startled Stunticon dropped Emma, who somehow managed to flip over backwards and land on Platinum's back, just in front of the Pythormer's wings.

It was a strange feeling, like riding a giant metal horse. Emma's feet fell below the pink snake, and her hands clasped the metal in front of her.

Platinum twisted around and arced back towards Carly, who raised her arm. Emma grabbed the blonde's wrist, hoisting her up onto the giant snake's back behind her.

"Stunticons!" Motormaster shouted. "Combine!"

"Aww, damn…" Hound muttered, as the five Stunticons combined into Menasor, dwarfing the tracker, tactician and first-lieutenant.

Emma and Carly, sitting on Platinum's back, gasped, as the Gestalt lunged at the three smaller Transformers.

Emma nudged Platinum with her knees, and the Pythormer moved to intercept the attack.

"Hold on!" Emma called to Carly, and the blonde tightened her grip around Emma's waist, as the pink snake slammed into Menasor, knocking him partially off balance. "I won't allow you to hurt my friends!" Emma told him, her heart pounding. Her spark glowed a faint blue colour on her chest, and she was breathing fast. "Platinum, you know what to do!"

The giant snake flew forwards, clamping her mouth in a dry bite around Menasor's left arm (Dead End). With no difficulty, the snake lifted the Transformer off the ground, carrying him effortlessly almost out of the city, before tossing him far, out of the city where he de-combined.

Emma, Carly and Platinum watched with immense satisfaction, waiting for the crashes. Then, they headed back to the three Autobots.

"E-Emma!" Hound seemed stunned, as the girls dismounted and Platinum returned to her smaller form. "That…that was…"

"Crazy…" Jazz mused, grinning. "Totally out-there…"

Emma smiled. "It was all Platinum's doing…" She said, going over to Hound. The Autobot picked her up, and held her up to his eye-level. "But…thanks, guys, for coming to my rescue again…" Her smile faded. "Megatron sent out the Stunticons…he really wants me, badly. I don't know what to do…"

Hound hugged the girl gently to his chest plate, and she noted how warm it was. "We'll protect you." The tracker vowed.

"Just don't get hurt…" She whispered.

_Hmm…_ Carly thought. _I wonder if Emma might be…and if Hound is…_ She realised what this could mean, and smiled wryly. _She never would've guessed it…I wonder what Sunstreaker and Sideswipe would say…a love-triangle…hey, come to think of it…Spike's going to be upset he missed this, he had to go grocery shopping!_

O~O~O~O~O

The Stunticons were battered and bruised, but not completely destroyed. They lay on the sand, unable to believe that a snake had that much power even for a Pythormer.

"Never give up!" Drag Strip said.

"I _knew_ this was going to happen." Dead End had the worst injuries, from where Platinum had grabbed him.

"I hope they don't come looking for us." Breakdown muttered.

"It could always be worse!" Wildrider exclaimed.

"I _hate_ that snake…and I'm _going_ to get that girl…" Motormaster vowed.


	8. Love Potion Is Exciting –Real Intense–

TRANSFORMERS

Imperial Wings

_A girl is given a second chance at life, in exchange for ending the war of Transformers. It's about as easy as it sounds. And, whilst sorting out her own life, she discovers two younglings without mothers, and the reason why their families fight._

CHAPTER EIGHT

Love Potion Is Exciting ~Real Intense~

O~O~O~O~O

"I cannot believe that not _one_ of you was able to capture a single little girl." Megatron said coldly, his red optics glaring into his subordinates. He paced back and forth, slightly uneasily, across the floor.

"Uh, well, technically she'd be about twenty-one," Wildrider spoke up, and then shrunk under the glares of both Megatron and Motormaster. "So…uh…she's not…such a little girl…you know…?"

Motormaster gave him a Look that said _shut up or die_, before turning back to Megatron and saying: "Our mission's success was heavily compromised by the Autobot's interference. It seems they have made protecting this girl their number one priority…"

"Hmm…" Megatron mused, pausing in his pacings to turn to the three Coneheads, who were present. "You three have dealt with the Autobots whilst attempting to abduct that girl. Tell me, how would you describe the way they protected her?"

"Without hesitation, milord," Thrust said promptly. "They were always there, watching out for her. They attacked us…almost _fiercely_, sire…"

"Like they were ready to kill us, I mean more so than usual." Dirge added.

"And," Megatron seemed to be leading up to something. "Would you say that she is already someone very…_precious_ to them?"

"Absolutely." Ramjet nodded. "It was almost…hmm, how can I describe it?"

"Like she meant more to them than their lives?" Megatron said softly.

The three Coneheads nodded.

There was a collective group silence, which was broken by Breakdown muttering: "Autobots are really weird."

Megatron nodded. "Maybe so…but _I_ have a plan that will turn the Autobots' own feelings against them!" He had extracted a great deal of information from Starscream – enough to piece together a strange puzzle, one that shocked even Megatron. Between Transformers having holoforms and the human girl having a Pythormer for a pet, Megatron had spent a lot of time figuring out how best to obtain this girl with the strange power of a spark. Who was she? Where had she come from? What was the extent of her power? _What_ was her power?

Megatron didn't know. All he knew was that he _had_ to find out, and now he knew how to…

The Autobots seemed to care a great deal for this girl…but, soon, they wouldn't…

O~O~O~O~O

"Ready, Emma?" Hound was in his alt mode, but his holoform was in the driver's seat, and glanced over at the girl, who wore blue denim shorts and a white singlet.

She looked determined but, at the same time, anticipating. "Ready." She replied, taking up a fitting stance.

"Set?" Hound revved his engines.

Emma's fingers dug into the sand around her bare feet.

"Go!" They both shouted.

Emma pushed herself forward, running at her normal pace, which Hound kept pace with because the point of this was _not_ a race.

"Ten kilometres!" Hound called to Emma.

"Okay!" She called back, increasing her speed slightly. She could feel the strain in her legs – she didn't really like running (she preferred rollerblading) – but, at the same time, she felt a strange urge to run faster.

"Fifteen!" Hound called to her. Then: "Seventeen!"

Emma didn't answer, save for the grin on her face because, just then, she felt the now familiar poundings of the All-Spark in her chest, and it was pushing her to run faster. Hound kept pace with her the whole entire time, marvelling at how she was pushing herself across the sand. The sun was high in the sky by that time, and sweat glistened on her bare arms and legs. He eventually forgot to check her speed.

Just then, up ahead, Emma noticed that they were approaching the sand dunes, and moved herself closer to Hound, saying: "I don't think I can run any further!"

"Then hop in!" Hound replied, his holoform holding out his hand, which Emma grabbed.

Hound's holoform pulled Emma into his lap just as they reached the sand dunes. She yelled with joy as they seemed to fly over the sand, and Hound's holoform made sure she didn't fall out. He may not be her guardian anymore, but that didn't seem to be an issue. They enjoyed each others company, and that was all that mattered.

O~O~O~O~O

Back at the base, Platinum had watched Emma leave with Hound. The Pythormer was in her smaller form, lounging on the very top of the Ark, sunning her belly. As a Transformer, she didn't really get a tan, but the sun seemed to give her more energy. Platinum didn't like the rain. Now she flicked her tongue in and out, testing the scent of energon in the air. Was that a flicker of unfamiliar energon she sensed?

No, probably not…

Platinum flipped over onto her stomach. Time to let her wings soak up some rays, and not her eyes. She buried her head under one of her wings. Sleep time, maybe?

O~O~O~O~O

"So, how fast do you reckon I was running?" Emma asked, looking up at the blue sky with fluffy white clouds.

"I'd say about thirty-three kilometres." Hound replied, just in his alt mode now. He didn't feel the need for his holoform at the moment, since Emma happened to be lying on the hood of his Mitsubishi J59 Jeep alt mode. She was lying on her back, unknowingly doing what Platinum was doing back at the base, however Emma was staring at the sky.

"Just thirty-three K's?" Emma seemed disappointed.

"That's still faster than most humans can run, you know." Hound reminded her, and she nodded thoughtfully.

"Hey," She said suddenly. "Doesn't that cloud up there look like Sunstreaker?" She pointed.

Hound looked. "Hey, it does…" He agreed, for it did.

"And there's Sideswipe…" Emma now pointed to a Sideswipe-shaped cloud. "But, what's that heading towards them…?"

Emma and Hound both watched as a cloud shaped like the Autobot medic came in between the two cloud-twins, and his hands cut their heads off.

Emma cringed, and pretended to tug at a neck-collar. "That isn't…so far off the mark…"

"D'ya reckon Ratchet's found out that they were the ones who painted his room bright pink?" Hound wondered.

"Yeah, probably…" Emma said, watching as an eagle flew overhead, before turning onto her stomach. Curling up slightly, she yawned. "Primus, I'm tired…all that running was hard work, Hound…"

Hound laughed gently. "You think driving's any easier?"

"When you were born to do it, yes." Emma replied, smiling.

O~O~O~O~O

Emma and Hound got back to the base very late, so late in fact, that nearly everyone had retired to their rooms.

"You two missed out on drinks." Ironhide said, when Hound walked in with Emma in his hand.

"That's okay, we found a crystal cavern." Emma explained.

"A what?"

Hound and Emma exchanged a secret smile. "Oh, never mind…" Hound replied, walking towards the hallway.

"Goodnight, Ironhide!" Emma called to him.

The weapons-specialist watched them go, and then he smiled. He was reminded a little bit of Chromia and himself, though not in the same way…

The thought of his spark-partner made him miss her now more than ever. She had been his perfect other half, a tough-as-nails, weapons-loving warrior, someone he could rely on. He always seemed to think about her when he had high-grade energon, since it acted differently to the normal stuff. Then again, she had been such a big part of his life, that he shouldn't be surprised he missed her so much…

O~O~O~O~O

"I take it Lazerbeak was successful?" Megatron smiled, as Soundwave walked in with an eagle on his shoulder.

"Affirmative." Soundwave replied, as the eagle flew off his shoulder, arced around in mid air and transformed back into Lazerbeak. His holoform had been successful in infiltrating the Autobot base, and lacing their energon source with the potion the Decepticons had created just that morning, which contained (among other things) a single piece of Emma's hair, left behind on Dead End in the last fight. The potion was designed to mix in with the chemical substances of the Autobots' energon and, when it hit their systems, would – somehow – make them completely _hate_ Emma. They wouldn't be able to stand her, and may even try to destroy her. Then, she would run, and the Decepticons would be right there to save her.

Then, she would become _their_ pet, and her power would be Megatron's.

O~O~O~O~O

When Emma woke up the next morning, her first thought was: _I want to go out again with Hound today._ Her second thought was: _I should shower first…_

So, she did, after telling Platinum to go and find Hound for her, and she sang in the shower, which was typical of her. "_On a night like this, I wanna stay forever…_" She sang the Kylie Minogue song, almost at the top of her lungs, since she was quite sure none of the other Autobots would be awake since they probably all had hang-overs. Did they drink as much as Decepticons? What was it about high-grade energon/alcohol that made beings like it so much? Emma herself enjoyed a glass or two of red wine, probably more than she should, so she could vaguely see why. It made people act strange, though. It altered the brain, somehow. It was weird.

Emma got out the shower after fifteen minutes (it was a good thing the Autobots got their water heated from the volcano) and towel dried herself. She put on her underwear, and then her bathrobe without tying it properly, before returning to her room where, to her surprise, she found Sunstreaker waiting for her and, not too surprisingly, Sideswipe.

What _was_ surprising were the looks on their faces when they saw her.

Emma stopped. "Yes?" She asked, suspiciously. She seemed to get very suspicious when the twins were involved.

Sideswipe spoke first. "Emma," He said, saying her name almost reverently. "We've been thinking..."

"About?" She was feeling more uncomfortable by the second. Why were the twins looking at her this way? She gathered her robes around her more tightly.

"We've realised..." Sunstreaker had a very un-Sunstreaker-like look on his face.

"What?" She took a half step back as both twins stepped forward.

"We can't stand it anymore!" Sideswipe declared.

"Please, go out with us!" Sunstreaker exclaimed.

"Please." Sideswipe added.

Emma stood absolutely frozen to the spot, in complete and utter mortification. Her hands slipped from her chest, and her robes fell partly open, but she didn't care. All that mattered to her right now was trying to figure out why the Lamborghini twins had suddenly gone completely insane.

Hadn't she always dreamed of being asked out by a guy? And now, _two_ hot guys were asking her out, yet...something didn't _feel_ right...namely, wasn't Sunstreaker supposed to hate her or something?

"I...I...uh..." She stammered, stepping back and trying to readjust her robes. The twins never stopped looking at her. She tried to sidestep the situation by saying: "Well...I...uh...I can't...you see...I'm going out with Hound...today..." She trailed off, when she realised that all the twins might've heard was 'I'm going out with Hound'. Judging by the looks on their faces...

"That slagger." Sunstreaker muttered.

"Trying to steal _our_ girl from us." Sideswipe agreed, and the twins shared a Look.

"_Whaaaaa_...? !" Emma blinked in shock. "I am _nobody's_ girl!" She took another step back, towards the door, and the twins looked at her, their expressions turning to absolute thrill.

"Then that means you can date us!" The two mechs said in unison.

"_I...I caaaan't_! ! !" Emma nearly shrieked, before turning and running from the room, nearly running into Mirage, who appeared to have been waiting just outside the door for her.

"Emma!" His holoform exclaimed softly, when he saw her.

"Oh, thank Primus, it's you!" She cried, taking a second to stop and tie her robes. "Listen, do you know why Sunny and Sides are...?" She broke off, because Mirage's blue eyes had darkened. _Uh-oh..._

Mirage's arm looped around her shoulder, just as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe came out of her room, and stopped when they saw the sophisticated Autobot spy.

"You two are to leave _my_ femme alone from now on." Mirage said, very clearly, and Emma felt her face turn red.

"Why don't you _make_ us, slagger?" Sunstreaker said, angrily.

Mirage's grip tightened on Emma's shoulder, and she immediately dodged away from him, pivoting slightly on her heel to face the three of them, a look of shock on her face.

"Not you too, Mirage!" She fairly wailed. "What's gotten _into_ all of you? !"

"We're in love with you!" The three mechs declared.

Emma just stared at the three of them. They stared back at her.

Just then, Emma became aware of _another_ set of eyes watching her, and turned around fast to see Bumblebee's cute holoform gazing endearingly at her.

"You too?" She asked him.

He nodded. "Uh-huh."

"_Kyaaaaaaa_! ! !" She screamed, and ran full-tilt past Bumblebee, down the hallway. "_I CAN'T HANDLE THIIIIS_! ! !"

Her scream was heard by all of the residents of the Ark, including Aqua, who was drinking energon-formula-milk out the front of the base.

"Hmm..." The youngling blinked. "Something's going on...I wonder what it is...oh, a cat..." She was distracted, like any child.

O~O~O~O~O

Ravage certainly _looked_ like a cat, to Aqua, but in fact he was a small black panther. His holoform crept towards the base, intent on getting close enough to hear what was happening and report back to Soundwave.

However, he suddenly found himself picked up by Aqua's holoform.

"You are so _cute_, Mr. Kitty!" Aqua declared, hugging the feline that was nearly as big as she was. "I'm gonna keep you, and you can be my pet!"

Ravage gave the girl a Look. He couldn't recognize that she was a holoform, which was probably just as well. All he recognized was that she was an annoying child, but he couldn't do anything to jeopardize his mission, including harm the girl in any way, shape or form.

She was saying something about 'playing baby', but he thought he could handle that, whatever it was.

O~O~O~O~O

Emma was flat-out _sprinting_ down the hall, even though at the speed she was going she was sure she'd left the four love-struck mechs far behind minutes ago. She stopped to catch her breath, leaning against the wall and feeling her heart hammering in her chest.

"What is going _on_ here?" She wondered, her head spinning. "I just wanted to spend a quiet day with Hound, enjoying nature, and now..."

"Did you say enjoying nature?" A calm, deep voice said from behind her, and she nearly jumped out of her skin because it was a _mech's_ voice.

She turned around, to see a man with the same skin tone as Jazz's holoform, he had dark hair and wore blue three-quarter-length shorts and a white and blue t-shirt.

"B-Beachcomber?" She guessed. "Have we met before?" _Probably not, which means he won't be saying he's in love with me..._

"I don't think so." The mech smiled at her. "Because I think I'd remember a beauty of nature like you..."

Emma didn't say anything – she just ran. She ran down the hall and was about to turn right, but she caught sight of Jazz there.

He saw her. "Emma!" He called out, looking happier to see her than he should've.

"NOOOOOOOO! ! ! !" She screamed, and turned left, nearly _flying_ down the hallway and through a doorway.

She sighed, her heart racing in her chest, and her spark feeling oddly warm. She turned around.

"Ah..." Her breath hitched in her throat, and she suddenly felt very numb as she stared into the room.

Almost every mech she hadn't yet encountered that strange day was in their holoform in the room, watching a completely random anime about an anime version of Carly named Candice.

They all had their backs to her, and she hoped to keep it that way, as she backed out slowly.

Just then, Ironhide walked past the room in his robot form. "Hi, Emma." He greeted her without stopping.

"Hi, Ironhide." She replied, without even thinking.

At this exchange, almost every single mech in the room turned towards the door.

She cringed back.

"It's Emma!" Someone said.

"It's her!" Another exclaimed.

"Isn't she cute?"

"Hey, I saw her first!"

"What the slag?" Ratchet wondered.

Emma stared at him, before she realised something. He wasn't acting like the others, and neither had Ironhide.

She spun on her heel and charged off down the hall. "Ironhide, wait for meeeee! ! !" She ran around a corner, and he had stopped further down that hallway and turned back, looking quizzical.

A blue glow sparked from the disc on her chest, and hit Ironhide, forcing him to assume his holoform – he had dark blonde hair and slightly tanned skin, and wore blue jeans, a white shirt and a red jacket.

His blue eyes widened in surprise when Emma ran up to him and grabbed onto his arm.

"Ironhide!" She exclaimed. "You _have_ to help me, everyone's acting so strange today, they're all saying they're in _love_ with me, and only you and Ratchet are acting normally!" Her voice was slightly choked up.

Ironhide stared at her in shock for a second, before they both heard running footsteps.

Inferno, in his holoform, arrived first. He had dark red hair, and wore a red and black jacket, white shirt and white pants.

"You!" He said, pointing to Emma, who froze. "You've gotta go, _now_!" He raced forward and grabbed her hand. "Come on girl, let's go!" He dragged her off down the hallway, leaving Ironhide to deal with the oncoming mechs.

"Why are...you, Ratchet and Ironhide...the only ones acting normal, Inferno?" Emma half ran, and half clutched the stitch in her side. "Is it...because of Firestar, Arcee and Chromia? Would...Powerglide act normally too, because of Moonracer? And Prime, because of Elita? _Why is this happening to me_? !" She wailed. "What's gonna happen? !"

"You'll be fine," Inferno promised her, as they turned a corner and hurried into the front entrance room to the Ark. "We'll sort this out, Emma!"

Powerglide and Optimus Prime were waiting for them.

Inferno returned to robot form, holding Emma on his hand as he approached the other two mechs.

Emma was clutching her robes, and breathing heavily. She didn't like to run.

"What's the situation, Inferno?" Optimus asked gravely, after exchanging a Look with Powerglide.

"Most of the other mechs on the base seem to be acting the same way as Bluestreak and Trailbreaker, sir." Inferno informed the commander.

Emma's head snapped up. "Bluestreak and Trailbreaker, too?" She put her head in her hands. "Why is this happening?"

Optimus shook his head. "I don't know, Emma. Anything else, Inferno?"

"Yes," Inferno nodded. "As well as you, Powerglide and myself, Ratchet and Ironhide also appear to be unaffected."

"Because you already have spark-mates," Emma said quietly. "Primus warned me something like this might happen..." She muttered. "But why...?"

Just then, Prowl and Hound walked in, in their robot-forms.

Emma immediately jumped up, holding her hands out in a cross-shape.

Platinum rolled her yellow optics and flew over to her owner, wrapping her long body around Emma's wrists as if to say: _They're not vampires..._

"It's okay." Prowl said, straight away. "Hound and I are unaffected."

Emma didn't look convinced.

Hound looked right at her. "It's okay." He echoed Prowl. "I'll protect you."

Emma looked into his optics. They looked normal. She believed him. "Okay."

Optimus looked at the two mechs, and nodded. Inferno surrendered Emma to Hound.

"Hound," Optimus said to him. "Take Emma out of the base, and don't come back until we radio you. Prowl, Ratchet, Ironhide, Inferno, Powerglide and I will sort this out." Hound nodded.

"I'm sorry, Prime." Emma said contritely. "Because of me, everyone's acting weird."

"I doubt this is your fault in any way, Emma," Optimus told her. "Please don't worry."

Just then, through the doorway came the other male occupants of the Ark, all in holoform, and followed by Ratchet and Ironhide.

"We couldn't hold them off any longer, Prime!" Ironhide called.

"Hound, _go_!" Optimus ordered, and Hound transformed to vehicle mode, as Emma fell into the driver's seat. The seatbelt tightened around her, as Hound sped out of the base.

Emma caught a glimpse of the other mechs in the wing-mirror, and was shocked by the looks on their faces. _What on earth had gotten into them? !_

On the way out, Hound and Emma passed by Aqua, who was busy tying a baby bonnet around a black cat's neck.

"Hey, where did Aqua get a cat from?" Emma questioned, glad for the distraction.

"And where did she go to get that baby bonnet?" Hound wondered.

Platinum glanced back at Aqua and the cat, and hissed.

O~O~O~O~O

"I think we're safe now." Hound said, as they drove through the quiet suburban streets on the way to Carly's house.

Emma leaned back in the seats. "This entire day has been so strange," She said. "What got into everybody?"

If Hound could've shrugged, then he would've. "I don't know," He replied. "But it ticks me off."

"Huh?" Emma blinked. "What does?"

"Seeing all those mechs harassing you, giving you a hard time," Hound said, pulling into the driveway of Carly's house. He turned off his engine, but neither him nor Emma moved. "I mean, that's what we have Decepticons for. You shouldn't have to leave the base for the day just because the mechs won't leave you alone. It's not right."

A blush had started to form over Emma's face when Hound had started talking, and now she gulped. "You...you really feel that way?" She asked quietly.

"I do." Hound stated. "You shouldn't be forced into something you don't want. You should be free to choose."

"Oh." Emma fiddled with the straps on her dressing gown. "But...Hound...I...I wanted to spend the day with you...anyway. That's why I sent Platinum out to find you. Because we had such a great time yesterday...I thought...we could...be together again...today..."

"Oh." Hound echoed her, feeling a strange feeling welling up in his spark. "I see..."

"Sounds kinda weird, right?" Emma smiled in embarrassment.

"I don't think it's weird." He replied.

They were silent for a moment, before the front door to Carly's house opened, and the woman herself came outside.

"Emma? Hound?" She called, walking down the front steps. "What are you doing here?"

Emma closed her eyes briefly. "Hound, why don't you tell her?"

O~O~O~O~O

"How did we get roped into this again?" Spike asked Hound, as they sat side-by-side in the waiting room that smelt like nail polish and hair-care products.

"I know not." Hound replied, looking at the price lists and wondering what a Brazilian wax was. Did he even _want_ to know? It sounded painful...

"Can't we leave them here?" Spike wondered. "Would they _let_ us?"

"I think it would take a power greater than you or I." Hound agreed, just as Emma and Carly came out from the back room of the beauty salon, looking positively _radiant_. Their skin had been washed and exfoliated, their nails cleaned and painted. Carly's blonde hair had been permed, and someone had even polished the blue disc on Emma's chest. Both girls wore new clothes, and had their faces done up to bring out their natural beauty.

Hound and Spike stared. So did everyone else in the shop. That was probably because Platinum had also come out. The Pythormer's pink scale-like metal had been polished so they gleamed, the amethyst on her forehead shone, and her wings were shining too.

"I feel like a million dollars!" Carly exclaimed.

"Me too!" Emma agreed.

They both looked at Spike and Hound. "You guys can pay!" They said in unison.

The two males in question gulped.

O~O~O~O~O

Back at the Autobot's base, Prowl stood in front of the love-struck mechs, everyone was in their holoforms and Prowl looked like a police officer.

"Now," He said sternly, as Powerglide started up the overhead projector, and images appeared on the white sheet. "Who can tell me what _this_ image is?"

"A fox." Mirage volunteered.

"Very good, Mirage." Prowl nodded, and the image changed. "And, this one?"

"The Niagara Falls." Beachcomber stated.

"Excellent, Beachcomber." Prowl replied. "Next?"

"That's Elvis Presley." Jazz pointed out.

"Right, Jazz. And this person?"

"That's no person!" Sunstreaker exclaimed. "That's an archangel, a pure vision of beauty rivalled only by myself!"

"That's Emma, the most beautiful femme in _existence_!" Trailbreaker cried.

"She's utterly amazing, beautiful, power and gorgeous!" Bluestreak stated. "She's the greatest being in existence, that picture is only a true mark of her utter gracefulness and sweet nature! She is unrivalled by any femme!"

Everyone stared at Bluestreak, before most of them nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he's right," and: "Bluestreak's right on, there."

Prowl face-palmed. "Dear Primus..."

O~O~O~O~O

"Ice-cream, I love you." Emma said happily, digging into a giant chocolate sundae.

"How can you _eat_ that?" Spike wondered. "It's as big as you are! They don't _get_ much bigger than that!"

"Umm, the Deluxe Ice-Cream Avalanche does." Carly responded, digging her spoon into her strawberry sundae. "It has a _mountain_ of vanilla and mint ice-cream, with tiny little chocolate chips that look like skiers and white toffee in the design of a frozen lake."

"How do you know that?" Spike asked her.

"Because I just saw one go by."

They all turned, and saw the two waitresses place a _humongous_ dish on a table nearby. It was exactly as Carly had described it.

Emma's eyes sparkled. "I'm ordering one of _those_ next time." She declared.

"No way, you'll turn into a blimp." Carly responded.

"Not with all the running around I do." Emma sighed. "If it's not one thing, then it's the other, not that I'm complaining or anything. You know, I'm surprised the Decepticons haven't atta-" She broke off, as Hound clamped a hand over her mouth. "Mph-mmp-hmm..." She glared at him.

"Ssh-shh, don't _jinx_ it!" Hound hissed.

Carly and Spike laughed. They were sitting on the roof of the department store, where there was a cute little café and everything. It was a beautifully warm day, the perfect weather for eating ice-cream.

They watched as a waiter carrying a tray of cocktail drinks walked past. Spike watched him place the drinks on the table, where sat a group of people in their mid-twenties.

"Ah, someday," He said, a little wistfully. "When we're old enough to drink..."

"It's not all that glamorous," Emma shrugged, as Hound let her go and she returned to her ice-cream. "I'd been allowed to drink for four years..."

"Yeah, that's right," Carly recalled. "In Australia, the legal drinking age is eighteen, isn't it?"

Emma nodded.

"What's it like?" Spike wanted to know.

Emma thought. "Hmm...I can't really explain it. I mean, I can drink one glass of red and I'm fine. At about two, I guess I feel kinda...lighter. That buzzy feeling you get. The most I've ever had is four and a bit, at my sister's sister-in-law-to-be's engagement party..."

"Wow." Carly nodded. "How did you feel afterwards?"

Emma laughed a little. "At the time it _seemed_ like a good idea, but the next morning...hangover city..."

They all laughed.

"Yeah, I've seen a few Transformers get like that sometimes," Hound stated. "Usually the Autobots are pretty good, though. Prowl doesn't drink at all..."

"Fair enough," Emma nodded, and then she nearly choked on her ice-cream. She began coughing.

"Are you alright?" Carly asked her, as Platinum glanced up from her spot on the table.

"Y-yeah..." Emma stammered. "Just...I had a strange thought..." She looked at Hound. "I mean, _you_ didn't drink last night, and apparently neither did Prowl, but everyone _else_ did. And _they're_ the ones who are affected, or at least the single ones are...so..." She met Hound's startled gaze. "_The energon_!" They both exclaimed in unison. Then: "_The Decepticons_!"

"Shh-shh!" Carly and Spike exclaimed in unison.

"I'd better radio Prime..." Hound said, jumping up. "Wait here, I'll be back..."

They watched him go.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Carly muttered.

"Oh, why did you have to go and say that, Carly?" Spike asked her. "You know I hate it when you get bad feelings..."

"Hmm..." Emma looked up at the sky.

O~O~O~O~O

It's any wonder Megatron still _trusts_ us to go out on missions! Thundercracker said, angling his jet body to fly towards the city.

We're gonna win this time! Skywarp cackled.

Would you two just shut up and fly? ! Starscream yelled, as they approached the location of the building where Emma's signature was coming from.

The three Seekers saw, to their delight, that Emma was only there with the two humans, Carly and Spike. Abducting her would be a whole lot easier now.

O~O~O~O~O

Emma's eyes widened in horror. "IT'S STARSCREAM! !" She shouted (one of the top ten or so lines she'd wanted to use in context in her life).

The three Seekers transformed, as tables, chairs and people went flying, and somebody got a face full of Deluxe Ice-Cream Avalanche. Spike got hit with a glass of cocktail.

"You're right, Emma," He said, holding his forehead. "Alcohol _is_ over-rated."

"Told you." Emma replied.

"Well, Emma," Starscream's red optics burned into her. "Are you ready to admit defeat and come with us?"

"No slagging way, Starscream!" She cried.

"Oh, but who's going to come and save you?" Starscream smirked. "I'm sure you're fed-up with all of the Autobots by now..."

Carly gasped. "So, it _was_ you!"

"You wreaked havoc!" Spike exclaimed.

"It was terrible!" Emma added. "Thanks to you, I've been in the spotlight all day! The Autobots wouldn't leave me alone!"

That stopped the three Seekers. "Umm, what?" Skywarp looked at her.

The three humans exchanged a glance. "Uh...you know?" Spike moved his hands in a 'come on' sort of signal. "The love-potion? The one that _you_ spiked the Autobot's energon with?"

The three Seekers looked visibly confused. "Uh...we didn't put a love-potion in there," Thundercracker explained. "It was meant to have the opposite effect..."

"Yeah, well it didn't!" Emma exclaimed shrilly, her voice ringing. "Unless love is the new hate, that is! Because I had about eight mechs tell me they love me, and I can't handle that!" Platinum hissed in agreement.

Starscream looked right at her. "You're annoyed?" He wanted to know.

"Damn straight I am!" Emma snapped, glaring back at him.

"You've had it up to _here_?" Starscream held his hand up to his forehead.

"_And_ some." Emma agreed, crossing her arms and nodding firmly.

"You'd like to get away from it all, right?" Starscream asked carefully.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Nice try, Screamy."

"Well, it was worth a shot." Starscream shrugged. "Skywarp, get her!"

O~O~O~O~O

Hound had heard Emma's scream, the scream he always dreaded to hear, and now he raced to her rescue. With enough force to take out a diamond-plated wall, he slammed into Skywarp, who had been about to grab Emma. Using his shoulder cannon, he fired at Starscream and Thundercracker, who dodged out of the way.

"What? !" Starscream was shocked to see Hound. "You should be inundated by your own feelings, Autobot!" He stated.

"Too bad for you, Decepticons, _I_ didn't drink last night!" Hound replied.

"And neither did _I_!" Prowl had arrived, just in time to punch Thundercracker out of the way. The two Autobot mechs got between the three Seekers and the three humans.

"I will _never_ touch alcohol after this." Spike declared. "Or high-grade energon..."

"Frag," Starscream muttered, glaring at his enemies. "Megatron was a _fool_ for not realising the effects of high-grade energon versus low-grade energon..."

"He'll still blame us, he always does." Thundercracker said diplomatically.

"Who cares?" Skywarp cried. "It's not over yet! There's three of us, and only two of them!"

"Right!" Starscream agreed. "Seekers, let's go!"

"Platinum, _help_ them!" Emma hissed.

Platinum gave her a Look that clearly said: _no way_.

Emma sighed.

Just then, there was an energy beam fired from seemingly nowhere, and it exploded on the side of the building right by the Decepticons.

The three of them screamed as they fell, before transforming and flying away in a quick retreat.

The Autobots and humans watched them go.

"Uh...okay..." Hound said. "What just...happened there?"

O~O~O~O~O

"I couldn't believe it when the side of that building collapsed," Carly was saying to Spike, as they rode back with Prowl, and Hound and Emma followed them. "Those three Decepticons just went right over the edge!"

"It certainly _was_ unexpected." Spike agreed. "What do you think it was, Prowl?"

"I was unable to locate the source of the energy," Prowl responded briskly. "The information remains unknown to me."

"In other words, he doesn't know." Carly said.

"Right. Typical Prowl." Spike laughed.

Prowl let that comment go.

Just then, over his com-link, he heard the news he had been waiting to hear all day.

A cure had been found. The love-potion was no longer in effect.

O~O~O~O~O

That evening, Emma, Hound and Platinum sat outside on top of the Ark, looking at the stars.

"Starscream really seemed surprised that the hate-potion had turned into a love-potion." Emma mused, leaning against the shoulder of Hound's holoform. "He even seemed a little upset."

"That would have been because it meant failure, and Starscream _hates_ failure." Hound replied, smiling. "I'm glad it all worked out in the end, though. Who would've guessed that the antidote turned out to be ice-cream?"

"Ice-cream cures everything." Emma giggled. Then, she sighed. "Ah, I still feel a bit bad about it, though. Everyone was apologizing for something they couldn't control."

"Hey, neither could you." Hound reminded her. "Nobody blames you. It was the Decepticons."

"Do you think your life would have been easier if I'd never shown up?" Emma asked quietly.

Hound was quiet for a moment, before saying, softly: "Emma...I'd rather die tomorrow...than live a hundred years without knowing you."

Emma's eyes shone. "Aww, Hound...thank you..." She put her arms around his neck and hugged him. "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me...you're so sweet..."

Hound's blue eyes were sparkling. _She...called me sweet! I'm so...happy!_

"You're officially one of my very best friends now, Hound." Emma continued.

_I haven't even gotten past the friends stage yet! I'm so...unhappy!_

Just then, Aqua climbed up onto the roof in her holoform.

"Oh, you two are hugging," She smiled. "Are you...gonna kiss?"

Emma and Hound broke apart quickly.

"N-no!" Emma blushed. "Why would you say something like that, Aquamarine-Prime-One?"

Aqua giggled. "No reason." She sat down next to Emma and drew her knees up to her chin.

"Hey, Aqua," Hound wondered. "What happened to that cat you were with earlier today?"

"Huh?" Aqua glanced up at him. "Oh, Mr. Kitty got away...I followed him, but couldn't catch him..."

Emma and Hound exchanged a glance. "What has your Father told you about leaving the base unattended, Aquamarine?" Hound said, somewhat sternly but not really.

Aqua shrugged. "I had to catch the kitty."

"But that's not really the _point_ now, is it?" Emma rolled her eyes. "The Decepticons don't know about you yet, Aqua. Younglings are very important," (Hound smiled at her). "And that is why you have to be careful." She glanced at Aqua. "You will be careful, won't you?"

Aqua nodded.

"You think you can do that?" Emma asked.

Aqua nodded again. "Of course!" She exclaimed, in a _perfect_ imitation of both Sunstreaker and Sideswipe.

Emma and Hound exchanged another glance. "I don't trust your opinion." Emma stated.

Aqua blinked. "But I'm strong enough to fight! I even..." She trailed off. "Oh...never mind..."

Emma thought that if she and Hound kept on glancing at one another, they might be able to stare at each other forever.

He felt the same way.


End file.
